The things we go through
by Kc4229
Summary: The story of Jaune Arc and Yang Xiao Long. Love, hurt, and revenge ensue after the White Fang make a bold statement that will ultimately cost people on both sides everything that they have and more.
1. The things we go through chapter 1

"We're one minute from the LZ! Get ready!" Bullhead pilot 479er announced to his passengers. Inside the bullhead were an eight man squad of Atlesian soldiers-callsigns Royce, Meat, Peasant, Scarecrow, Ozone, Chemo, Archer, and Buck, and four huntsmen in training-Sky Lark, Dove Bronzewing, Russel Thrush, and Cardin Winchester of Team CRDL of Beacon Academy.

Team CRDL was assigned on a week long mission to find and destroy several Grimm nests that has been harassing a town. In addition, General Ironwood has requested to allow a squad of trainees to assist the huntsmen, as a start to a project aimed to help the soldiers get use to working with huntsmen for future missions and deployments. CRDL wouldn't be the only team, but they would be the first.

It was a success. There was friction at first, challenges in leadership between Buck and Cardin, and differences in combat strategies (ie, the Atlas squad would try a tactical approach where CRDL would try the direct approach). But those were quickly overcome and the twelve man team worked together effectively. They practically finished their mission two days early , all they have to do is destroy and clear a Creep nest. They went for drinks at a pub for a pre-celebration, when something happened.

News came from Beacon Academy: Jaune Arc and Yang Xaio Long were ambushed and kidnapped by the White Fang in Vale. There's no information about their whereabouts but they're trying to find them.

This hurt the morale of twelve man team, especially CRDL. Yang Xaio Long was one of the best and most ferocious fighters this generation of hunters had to offer. For her to be taken down means that the White Fang were getting better, stronger, better equipped, and/or larger in numbers, and they were willing to target huntsmen in training.

Jaune Arc wasn't the strongest fighter, but he was a tactician whose strategies have saved many from injury and death, and he was a kind hearted soul who believed in second chances. He even helped CRDL by showing them the error of their ways and helped them try to improve. For the White Fang to consider him a threat and target him just shows how cruel they are.

The next day after they cleared the last of the Creep nests, the White Fang publicly released a video. A video of them torturing and interrogating Yang and Jaune. Though the news stations censored and didn't show much, but what they did show was… dear God, nobody deserved that. No one.

But the worst part was, they didn't make any demands. They stated that they were doing this because they can. They were giving Remnant a message, 'we can hurt anyone, anywhere, and there's nothing you can do'.

"Fucking animals, the lot of them." Surprisingly it didn't come from CRDL, it came from Royce, though not to say CRDL didn't think the same thing. The Bullhead to pick them up came half an hour after the broadcast. As it landed, the pilot and gave them new orders.

Atlas intel has traced the broadcast. The signal originated to a position that's a 20 minute bullhead ride away deeper in the wilderness. If they wanted, they could either wait for reinforcements and join them in the assault. After remembering the last images of Jaune and Yang, the huntsmen and soldiers decided 'screw waiting for help, we know where they are and we need to get them out now!'

General Ironwood was a little displeased at their disobeying orders, but he was proud at their dedication and determination. He ordered them to be quick, find the hostages and get out, or fortify a position in the base and wait for the reinforcements to clear out the rest of the strong hold. No unnecessary risks.

"Thirty seconds!" The pilot yelled as the bullhead was illuminated by a red light. The Atlas soldiers did a final check on their guns, ammo, and armour. Cardin equipped his mace, Russel spun the dust cylinders on his daggers, Dove unfolded his sword, and Sky checked the sharpness on his halberd axe.

"Ten seconds!" Everyone got ready at the rear hatch, ready to storm out. Everyone was determined to get them out, Cardin especially. He owed Jaune a great debt, it's time to start repaying it. They felt the bullhead slow down a little. The red light turned green, everyone's grip tightened on their weapons. The ramp then quickly lowered.

"GO GO GO GO GO!" The pilot shouted quickly. Everyone ran out the rear of the bullhead. "I'm making an opening!" They all turned around to the front to see the bullhead fire two rockets and blew open a hole in the compound with a loud, rumbly explosion. "Good hunting, I'm pulling out! Radio in when you ready for pick up!" They all unleashed a battle cry as they charged in.

They entered some kind of storage room and were immediately under heavy fire from multiple directions. They took cover behind some crates and shipping containers. One Atlas Soldier pulled out a small camera on a stick and raised it above him.

"Atlesian Knights! 130 models! Several dozen! Plus mobile infantry! At least two dozen! Maybe more!" He called out over the sound of gunfire and then put away his stick-cam.

"Thanks Archer!" Shouted squad leader Buck as he equipped his dual pistols. "Cardin, we handle the tinnies while you get the rest?"

"He, sounds like a plan Buc- shit!" Cardin replied but then recoiled as a few bullets impacted too close for comfort. His aura would have protected him, but it still scared the daylight out him. "We need an opening or we'll be shot up before we can do anything."

"Scarecrow, you heard him! He needs an opening." Buck yelled to another soldier, motioning to him with one of his hands.

"Copy!" Scarecrow said as he reach into a pouch and pulled out five objects. "Grenades out!" He tossed the grenades over his box. Several White Fang grunts screamed and ran for cover as they saw the grenades approach. The grenades exploded, taking out several AK-130s and injured some of the White Fang.

As the grenades exploded Cardin nodded to his team and they charged out to engage the enemy. One unlucky grunt was knocked forward towards Cardin and was then sent flying into another grunt when Cardin swung his mace upwards and impacted his jaw and then downwards on a 130 droid, smashing it to pieces. With Cardin drawing agro, Russel spun the cylinder on his daggers and equipped ice dust. He then closed his eyes and used his semblance.

He calls it hunter vision, and when he concentrates it allows him to see any human, faunus, or grimm within a certain distance despite what they're hiding in or behind. He saw a 130 and four Fang grunts stacked up behind a crate around the corner, getting ready to move up and engage them. He turned to his partner, Sky, and made a swinging motion with his hands and pointed to the crate.

Sky nodded and grinned in understanding, and lifted up his halberd and swung. The Fang grunts screamed and recoiled back as a axe blade appeared out of nowhere and decapitated the droid in front of them. Russel then yelled as he jumped over the container and jabbed his daggers into the ground. A shockwave of ice shot out, encasing their legs of the grunts, the floor around them, and part of the crates in ice. They panicked and could offer little resistance as they became easy pickings for the two huntsmen.

Three other Fang grunts took cover and loaded a rocket launcher as they watched as the blue hair and spiky haired hunters took out their comrades. The one with the launcher took aim and grinned. "Say go'ight humans." she said to himself. Right as she put his finger on the trigger, she and the rest of her friends were violently thrown back. They quickly looked up to see the blond haired hunter slice the rocket launcher in half mid air.

Dove didn't have an official name for his semblance, but it allowed him to do two things. First, he could pick a target up to fifty meters away and use his aura to charge mid-air and slam into them while passing through thin objects. Second, with the aura energy still flowing through him, he could discharge it, creating a shockwave that spreads around him and sends almost everything around him flying. He simply calls his abilities 'charge' and 'nova'.

Immediately after slicing the rocket launcher, Dove roared as he lept from atop the crate towards the three grunts. With his hand engulfed in aura he slammed into the ground unleashing a nova. The grunts were sent flying high into the air, one impacting and getting shocked from a hanging light befalling to the ground. Dove then immediately sliced a 130 droid in half and cut the arms of another that tried to charge him.

Meanwhile, Buck and his team were spread out in teams of two, engaging the majority of the 130 droids in a tactical shoot out. Buck couldn't help but smile at how effective they were fighting and communicating.

"Claker down!" Peasant called out as a 130 in front of him fell to the ground, riddled with holes.

"Ozone, 130 behind the open crate, 9 o'clock!" Meat called out as he opened fire on a group of droids.

"I see him!" Ozone said as he opened fire and shot through the crate, and grinned as he heard metal impact concrete. "Target down!"

"Out! Swapping mag!" Royce said crouching behind cover has he put in a new clip.

"Ha, I'm a freaking one man army!" Meat gloated as he took down a fifth droid in a row with a headshot.

"You got the mouth of one to-Woah! Shit, shit, shit, ah fuck!" Ozone yelped as he cowered behind a crate hiding from the tremendous amount of fire he was receiving "Take too much fire! I need some help!"

"I see'em! Large group clumped up!" Chemo called out as he dodged incoming fire before returning fire. "Scarecrow, they're at your 2 o'clock, otherside of those heavy crates! I don't got line of sight!"

"Copy!" Scarecrow said as he took another grenade from his belt. "Tossing frag!" He pulled the pin and let it cook before tossing it. The grenade exploded, also igniting an ammo crate, creating a large fireball, knocking over several containers and raining mechanical parts all over the area.

"Ha ha. That's the stuff!" Archer celebrated as he tore the head of a 130 that had it's legs blown off.

"Thanks!" Ozone said. "I'm moving up!" he said as he crouched walked behind another crate up ahead.

"Copy, covering fire!" Archer called out as he shot down another droid near Ozone.

"Yeah that's it! Take 'em down! Take 'em down!" Royce celebrated as another group of 130s got annihilated.

"Gun jammed!" Meat called out as he tried to fix the jam. "I'm good!" he said seconds later, signaling he was back in the fight

"Chemo, Royce, watch your right! Possible droids behind the red shipping container!" Buck warned his comrades as he reloaded his pistols.

"Copy! Moving to flank!" Chemo said as he moved up to intercept the 130s while Royce covered him.

"There can't be much more of them left! Push forward!" Buck barked out.

"Hoorah!" the rest of the squad sounded off.

In truth, the AK-130's were designed for general security against smaller Grimm and an occasional intruder. The only reason to really fear them was because of their quantity. But even then they were no match for a well armed squad of soldiers, let alone four trainee huntsmen. Buck took down another droid when he spotted another squad droids coming into the room from a wide stair case. His eyes widened when he realized what they were.

The AK-200s were the newer model of Atlesian Knight were faster and smarter than the 130s and could use standard issue and special ordnance weapons They could cause a lot more damage than the 130s. Even worse, all of the droids had a rocket launcher. "FUCK! 5 AK-200s with RPGs! Take cov-"

Immediately five explosions shook the room. Four were aimed at CRDL but thanks to their auras they were able to dodge direct impacts and be protected from the explosions and the shockwaves. Buck and his men took cover as the fifth rocket impacted. The rocket fired short and missed, but following the explosion multiple smaller round objects emerged and bounced around.

"Cluster rounds!" Archer yelled. He and everyone near him turned to run from the incoming cluster bombs. The cluster bombs exploded, shooting out white hot shrapnel. Most of the shrapnel landed on the floor or into shipping containers, but some pieces tore through Archer's left thigh and an unlucky 130 droid. Archer collapsed clutching his leg, screaming in agony.

"Archer is hit! Archer is down! ARCHER IS DOWN!" Ozone called out as he took aim at a AK-200 only for his gun to click empty. The 200 droid he was aiming at finished reloading it's launcher and took aim at Ozone. The droid and the one next to it were suddenly forced back when Dove seemingly materialized in his aura charge, and then used his nova to take out the other three droids.

Peasant, the squad's medic, rushed towards Archer and dragged him behind cover while the rest of his comrades and CRDL drew away the agro and provided covering fire. "Sky!" Peasant called out. Sky was by his side almost instantly. "Check him," He said as he drew a vial of morphine from his bag.

Sky nodded and closed his eyes to concentrate as he put his hands on Archer. Sky Lark's semblance was a medical one. When he makes physical contact, he can 'read' a person's body like a child book, and he can more effectively use his aura to heal the wounds of the person. Sky could see everything. How has his blood was pumping, his lungs expand and collapse with each breath, the blood flowing through each of his veins, the four tears in skin and flesh made by the shrapnel, the needle entering the body and releasing the morphine.

"His thigh is messed up but nothing that won't recover," Sky said as he opened his eyes and poured some of his aura to help seal the interior of the wound, then he took his hands off Archer. In truth, his semblance can allow him to fully heal the wounds in mere seconds, but it would take away a chunk of his aura, and he still needed to search the complex for Jaune and Yang. "All the shrapnel went clean through, none of the pieces are stuck in him."

"Hear that man," Peasant said giving archer a reassuring pat on the soldier. "Nothing to bad. Just gonna patch you up, take you home, maybe spent some time with some lovely nurses and you'll be fi-WOAH!" He and Sky dusked as a 130 droid head slammed into the crate between them.

"Sorry!" Russel called out.

"That all of them?" Cardin asked.

"Got nothing over here but scrap metal." Dove acknowledged.

"Everyone's down over here." Russel responded.

"Clear!" rang out Buck and rest of the Atlas squad minus Archer and Peasant. "Form up and make a perimeter around Peasant and Sky incase reinforcements show up.!" he commanded. His squad did as such as he and the rest of the huntsmen ran up to the medics and their downed friend. "How bad is he?" he asked as he crouched down next to them.

"Sky found no bits of shrapnel in him, they all went clean through." Peasant said as he and Sky finished finished applying the field dressings. "We disinfected the wounds and patched him up. A day or two in the infirmary and he'll be fine but he can't walk on his leg until this heals. We'll have to carry him."

"Not good," Buck said standing up. "We can't carry a wounded soldier around with us when we search the base."

"We have to leave him here, but not alone." Cardin said giving his thoughts. He cupped his chin. "I'm thinking… we split into three teams. First team will stay here and guard Archer and stand guard incase the White Fang send reinforcements this way or when any Grimm decide to show up, and they will. The other 2 teams will split up and search the ground floor and basement level."

"Quick thinking. How do we divide us up?"

While this was happening, Russel and Meat were conversating.

"You think he's going to be fine?" Meat asked, referring to Archer.

"Sky literally read his body, he said he'll be fine." Russel responded.

"I know but… just can't help but worry, you know?"

"Hey, I know. Trust me, I was panicking when Dove got too friendly with a Nevermore a while back and was bedridden for a week. But I also learned to never question Sky on anything related to health and injury." Russel saw that Meat eased up a little, but not enough to his liking. "Wait a sec." He stood up and began walking to Archer.

"What are you….?" Meat questioned but stopped mid way.

"Hey Archer." Russel called out. "How many fingers am I holding up?" He held up three fingers. Archer studied his hand for a few seconds.

"I don't know, how many am I?" he replied while raising his middle finger up at Russel.

"See Meat, he's fine." Most of the Squad started chuckling, including Meat.

"Alright ladies listen up!" Buck yelled grabbing everyone's attention. "Dove, Meat, Peasant, and Chemo. You guys will stay here and guard Archer and our exit." The people in question nodded in acknowledgement and Buck turned to Cardin.

"As far as we know, this place only has a ground floor and a basement." Cardin said as he pointed towards the wide staircase the AK-200s came from. "Ozone, Scarecrow, and Royce will come with me and clear the lower floor. Sky and Russel with go with Buck and search the ground floor."

"Any questions?" Buck asked. No one spoke up. "Alright, MOVE OUT!" Everyone divided into their teams. Dove, Meat, Peasant, and Chemo hid Archer behind some larger crates and moved to ambush positions. Buck, kicked down a door and charged in as the 2 huntsmen followed. Cardin lead the rest and charged downstairs where two more AK-130s met an unfortunate fate.

Their objective still stands: Find Yang and Jaune and get them out.


	2. The things we go through chapter 2

"S-shit, did you guys here that?" asked a White Fang grunt as he and his two friends stood on opposite ends of a barricaded door.

"Yeah," said a second grunt with a hint of fear in her voice. "Sounds like they took out the robots we had in the hallway." She turned to the comrade next to her. "Think they'll break in here?"

"Pfft, this door is a mark IV security door," the third one stated with pride. "SDC came out with them a little over a year ago. They can withstand a direct hit from a rocket. We're perfectly fine in her-what the fuck!", his gloating was interrupted as the wall next to him and the female grunt violently dented inwards.

While the mark IV security door is as tough as they say, the walls next to the door were not. They were lightly reinforced metal walls. All three grunts quickly got over their shock and aimed their weapons at the wall. Two more dents were made in rapid succession before they stopped. Several moments passed before they breathed a sigh of relief. Suddenly the wall exploded inwards and fell over, knocking the woman back and trapping the man under the debris.

Cardin Winchester charged in through the hole he made and immediately brought his mace down on the head of the poor grunt caught underneath. He immediately turned his attention to his left as he heard the sound of someone shouldering a gun. He ducked, dodging a burst of gunfire and then charged the shooter.

Cardin went to swing his mace when the shooter got another burst out. Two bullets impacted harmlessly on his armor, but the third struck his arm. His aura protected him, but the shot made his arm flinch upwards, making cardin strike the gunman's head, shattering his mask and knocking him out instantly. Cardin then turned to the last person in the room.

The last person quickly looked at her incapacitated friends, then back at the attacker. "You know what?" she said as she dropped her gun and raised her hands up. "I honestly hate working for them. These guys are nuts." Sweat started to form on her forehead as she silently prayed for this to work.

Meanwhile Ozone, Scarecrow, and Royce took up a defensive position in the hallway and waited for Cardin to clear the room on his orders. They didn't hear anymore sounds of fighting, but Cardin didn't give them the all clear yet.

"Shit," Ozone whispered with concern as he leaned forward to peek through the hole in the wall. "Hey Cardin, you alr-AHH!" He recoiled back as the body of a White Fang grunt came whooshing past him, slamming into the wall before collapsing onto the floor. Scarecrow couldn't help but notice that the grunt was missing some teeth.

"Room's clear!" Cardin called out, signaling the Atlas soldier to come in. "There hasn't been much resistance down here." he noted, voicing what everyone was thinking for a while now.

"Could be that this base was being used to house those droids in the storage house and they relied on them for security here." Royce said as he inspected the room they were in, which appeared to be some kind of security room. However, all of the monitors and anything that looked valuable or would hold information was smashed and destroyed.

"Maybe." Scarecrow replied. "Or the majority of everyone that should be here is out on a mission or something and that's why it's mostly empty."

"Either way we need to hurry," Cardin asserted as he inspected a door and the wall perpendicular to where the entered from. "Damn, this wall seems stronger than that door back there. We gotta go through the door. Ozone, on point. Get the door."

'Why am I always upfront getting shot at first?' Ozone thought as he took up a position on the door. Cardin and Scarecrow were behind him and Royce took up a position on the opposite side. Cardin tapped Ozone's shoulder, signaling him that he's good to go. Ozone nodded at Royce, whom nodded back and raised gun ready to provide overwatch.

Ozone gripped the door while holding his gun in his other hand. He turned the knob and violently opened the door. Cardin rushed in with Ozone following right behind him. "Clear." Ozone called out. Royce and Scarecrow then walked into the room and paused. Their eyes widened when they realized where they were. They recognized this room from the broadcast several hours ago. This is where Jaune and Yang were tortured.

The room was brightly lit and the floor and walls were covered in bathroom tiles, many of which were cracked. The floor was stained with many large puddles of bright red and black blood, filling the room with a foul odor. There were two chairs and several bands of metal chains that had some drops of blood on them. In between the chairs was a metal wheeled tray that had several sharp tools, needles, and a drill laying on it, all stained red. There was a smeared blood trail that lead to the steel door on the opposite.

There were also four dead White Fang bodies. Limbs were severed and pieces of flesh were scattered. They looked like that got sliced apart by a sword.

"Search the room! See if you can find anything important!" Cardin barked out as he got over his initial shock and took out his scroll and called Buck.

"Cardin, status. What did you find?" Buck's voice echoed through Cardin's scroll.

"We uh," Cardin choked out as the smell of blood was getting to him and filling his mind with images of what might have happened here, "we found the room where the White Fang broadcasted their torture of Yang and Jaune." He paused for a moment as he took in a breath. "There's also several dead White Fang guys in here. I think Jaune and Yang broke out." There was a long silence.

"That could be the case. We have some Fang casualties up here as well. Are there any signs of them or clues as to where they might be?"

"I… yeah, we have a blood trail leading out of the room. It looks fresh so we're going to follow the blood trail and it and hope it can lead us to them." Cardin said as he recomposed himself.

"Copy that. Sky, Spikey, and I will continue our sweep on the upper fl-" he pause, then a gunshot was heard and then Cardin's scroll showed 'connection lost'. Cardin panicked and tried to get a connection back, but to no avail.

"Shit! Alright listen." he called out grabbing everyone's attention as he put his scroll away. "Buck and his team ran into trouble and can't raise his scroll." If this bothered any of them, they didn't show it. "I'm sure he's fine, but we can't worry do anything about that now." In truth, he could call up Sky or Russel, but if most of the blood in the room was Jaune's and Yang's, then they couldn't waste anymore time.

"Right now," Cardin continued, "all we can do is continue to try and find Jaune and Yang. We're going to follow the blood trail and see where it leads." He slightly cringed at how morbid it sounded. "We're going to smash any freaks we see, we'll find them, and get the Hell out, quick." The Atlas soldiers nodded in approval. He ran up to the door as the squad followed. "Alright!" he shouted as he busted the door down. "Let-" taking one step in he was immediately pushed back by a hail of large caliber gunfire.

The bullets tore and dented his armour with each impact, He hit the ground as the burst of fire ceased. Scarecrow and Ozone Immediately grabbed Cardin and pulled him out of harm's way as another burst of fire came through where the door once was.

"Heavy MG!" Ozone called out over the heavy machinegun fire while blind firing a burst of from his rifle through the door. "Sounds like a Bolter 42! Cardin, you alright?!"

"Gah, fuck!" he shouted in pain as Scarecrow and Royce rested him against the wall and helped get his butchered chestplate off. "My chest peice got shot up." He said as he tore off his shattered chest piece with Royce's help. "It's useless now."

"Arua stopped the bullets. You're just winded from the impacts," Royce reassured with a pat on the shoulder. "You're fine."

"Yeah well of course I am." Cardin forced a smile and was almost unheard over the roar of the Bolter 42. "I'm training to fight monsters for a living. I'm not going to get taken down by a few gunshots, that'll just be insulting." Cardin and Royce suddenly jumped at an explosion and turned to the door.

"A little warning next time you do that!" Royce shouted in annoyance.

Scarecrow ignored them and took out another grenade from his belt and threw it down the hallway, just barely avoiding a burst of MG fire. They heard the boom of the grenade exploding but the Bolter 42 kept firing. He took another grenade and pulled the pin. He quickly peaked to get the MG to fire a burst and then threw the cooked grenade down the hall. He got the same result as the first two grenades did.

"Damn it!" Scarecrow cursed in frustration. "Turret's too far away and hallway's too narrow to get a good throw in. There weren't any other branching paths down here either. We're stuck." Cardin sighed heavily.

"I'll call it in." he pulled out his scroll to see that Russel was making a group call to everyone. "Hmm." He answered and put in on speaker.

"-UNE AND YANG! REPEAT, WE FOUND THEM!" Russel's voice hollered over the scroll, panting for air. "WE NEED TO GET THEM OUT NOW! THEY ARE GOING TO DIE IF WE DON'T"! No one needed to be told twice. Scarecrow threw a smoke grenade to cover their retreat. "How's the evac looking?!"

"This is pilot 479er," the pilot said over the scroll. "You have Grimm approaching from where you entered through the forest! Not sure if I can land without getting boarded! I'll try and help thin their numbers!"

"Peasant here!" his voice came over the scroll speaker over the sound of gunfire. "We got Grimm entering the storage room! Nothing we can't handle for now but they're increasing in number and the bullhead can't land until the area's clear! We need you guys back here now!"

* * *

 **A few minutes earlier**

The White Fang grunt screamed in agony as he was electrocuted by the electric dust from Russel's dagger before collapsing on the trio had just cleared out 6 grunts in what appeared to be a break room.

"This is almost too easy with Spikey's x-ray vision." Buck commented.

"Yeah, he's handy like that." Sky commented before being shoved by Russel, his head shaking with a small grin. "Hopefully at this rate we find them soon." The trio formed up at the next door. Strangely, the door was ajar. Sky peeked through.

"Oh shit." he gasped and rushed in. Russel and Buck immediately followed.

They were greeted with a horrifying sight. There was a wide hallway with a door on the opposite side and one door perpendicular to the other two doors in the room. There were many dead bodies in the room, all of them in White Fang uniforms. Upon investigating, they each appeared to have died from either multiple gunshot or slashes by a blade. Slash marks and bullet holes coated the walls. The floor was almost completely drenched and covered with blood. Sky almost jumped when Buck's scroll began to beep. He crouched and answered the call in front of the door perpendicular to the rest.

"Hey uh, Sky. Come to look at this." Russel said with his voice slightly shaking. Sky ran up next to Russel, his eyes widening when he saw what he was looking at. It was a pair of severed legs, cut just about where the knee would be, lying on the floor, apparently covered in denim. Sky then realized something, none of the White Fang bodies in the room were missing any limbs, and denim jeans weren't a part of their uniform.

Sky and Russel turned his heads to face each other. Their eyes showed fear. They both knew of only one person who wore jeans as part of their combat attire, and who was wearing jeans when they were kidnapped. Jaune.

"You don't think these are Ja-," Sky tried to ask but stopped as he heard a noise. It sounded like faint whimpering. They both immediately turned to where the sound was coming from, which was the door Buck was crouched by. Without thinking, Sky rushed to the door and threw it open.

"Copy that. Sky, Spikey, and I will continue our sweep on the upper fl-" Buck said over the scroll before he turned to see Sky open the door. The sound of yelling and gunshot after gunshot erupted from the room. Buck's scroll was hit by a stray bullet and shattered into pieces before he rolled out of the way and pressed himself against the wall.

"Jaune!" Sky called out. "Jaune it's me, Sky!" The gunfire stopped and the trio leaned over and peeked into the room. It was a storage closet, and in the corner on the ground was Jaune Arc. His legs were gone from the knees down. His shirt was blood soaked and torn, revealing several scars along his upper chest and shoulders. His face was painted red with blood except for his eyes. His right arm extended outward clutching a pistol while his left hand was behind him guarding somethi… no, someone. Yang Xiao Long was lying slumped against the wall unconscious behind Jaune.

"Oh my God." Russel mouthed as he, Buck, and Sky rushed in to their aid. Jaune's eyes slowly widened and he dropped the gun in shock as he realized whom he almost shot.

"S-sky?" He whimpered out despite the pain he was in. "H-ho-ow d-did-"

"We're here now! That's what matters!" Sky said as he ran up and crouched down next Jaune. "You two, go tear off some cloth from the guys outside, we need to make him some tourniquets to stop the bleeding!" Sky and Buck nodded and ran out of the room. "Jaune I have to be honest with you, t-this is bad." Shy managed to choked out. "Even with aura, I don't think w-"

"Forget. About. Me!" Jaune forced out with a cracking voice while reaching out to grab him. Tears started to fall down his face, washing some blood off. "Yang! Sky, Yang….pl-please….." Sky immediately understood what he meant and feared the worse. Buck and Russel ran back in with many pieces of torn cloth.

"Here, take them and wrap it around his legs to stop the bleeding. I need to check on Yang." They took Jaune and began to bandage his legs up. Sky now had a good look at Yang. His stomach knotted.

A bloody cloth, the same color as Jaune's shirt, was wrapped around her forehead and covered a little bit of her eyes. Her right arm was cut off a few centimeters below the shoulder, but it did have a tight makeshift tourniquet wrapped around it, also the same color as Jaune's shirt. And on her lower stomach there were a bunch of white makeshift rags, stained blood red, tied around Yang's lower stomach. The stained blood seemed to concentrate just around the…. Sky gasped.

Sky immediately put his hands on Yang's lower stomach and closed his eyes, focusing his semblance, pouring as much aura into her as he could. He could see a large slash on her forehead but it wasn't a deep cut. There were small cuts and gashes on her legs and her wrists were heavily bruised. He could see the nerves and pain receptors Yang's stomach were going crazy, had poured half of his remaining aura reserves into Yang's lower stomach, hoping it would be enough.

Meanwhile, Buck and Russel just finished tieing up and tightening the cloths around Jaune's leg. Jaune has finally passed out from the pain.

"We need to go!" They turned to see Sky rise up with Yang in his arms bridal style. "WE NEED TO GET THEM OUT NOW!" Buck immediately pulled a now unconscious Jaune over his shoulders in a fireman's carry.

"Russel, contact the others, we are leaving!" Russel pulled out his scroll and dialed up the others as the trio plus the unconscious hunters ran back the way they came.

Time was of the essence. They had to get out NOW.

* * *

"We need you guys back here now!" Peasant yelled over the gunfire from Meat, Chemo, and Archer's guns. Grimm were coming in through the opening in the wall. Thankfully, they were only Creeps and a few Beowolves coming in manageable numbers. But they knew that it was a matter of time until their numbers would increase and tougher Grimm would come. Thank God they took a lot of spare ammo in 479er's bullhead..

Dove yelled as he unleashed a nova blast and threw back three Beowolves back into a wall, killing two on impact, the third falling on a small pile of dead, decomposing Beowolves. Dove didn't know how much longer he could keep this up. They took out several Grimm nests earlier and didn't have enough time to rest before storming the compound. Fatigue was starting take it's toll, and it was a heavy fine.

A loud roar grabbed his attention. He turned towards the entrance to see a heavily armored Ursa Major stride inside. "Shit! Guys you have Ursi coming in! I just spotted them!" 479er yelled over the radio. "Fuck! I got a flock of Griffons flying in fast! I have to take evasive maneuvers! You're on your own, sorry!"

With 479er gone for the time being, Dove didn't know if he could keep the Grimm away from his comrades. He feared for their lives as an Ursa began to charge. He yelled a battle cry as he matched it's charge, preparing himself for an aura charge.


	3. The things we go through chapter 3

Dove Bronzewing cringed as his body slammed into a shipping container, leaving a large dent, and fell on a decomposing corpse of a Creep. He quickly got up, inwardly chastised himself for getting sloppy. He roared as he prepared for another aura charge. He glowed for a short moment before flying forward at neck breaking speed towards the Ursa Major that hit him.

The impact made the beast stumble, giving Dove an opening for him to grab onto its head and brought his sword across its neck. He then jumped off and novaed what was left of a Beowulf pack trying to crawl up a shipping container to get to the Atlas soldiers. All of the Grimm in the area were now taken care of for now.

"You took my kill." Chemo mock complained as he reloaded his weapon.

"I didn't see you name on it." Dove joked back as he jumped and climbed up to join them.

"It does, look!" He pointed to the decomposing body. Coincidentally enough it had bullet holes that were in the shape of the letter C. "C for Chemo." Archer and Meat burst out laughing. Peasant could only smile and shake his head.

"PEASANT!" They all sobered up at Buck's call. "PEASANT!" They all turned to see Buck, Sky, and Russel sprinting towards them, carrying Jaune and Yang's maimed bodies.

"Bring them here!" Peasant called out as he and Dove jumped down. Peasant detached his medical kit from his back. "Place them here." He kneeled down as Sky and Buck let the two wounded huntsmen down. "By the gods…." he said is shock as he examined them "alright, we need to inject them with antibiotics and then some morphine."

"Hey, eyes up! Watch the perimeter! Let Peasant and Sky do their thing!" Buck ordered, snapping the rest of the squad out of it as he took position behind a crate. "Chemo, try and get 479er on the horn!"

"Yes sir!" Chemo replied and took out his scroll. Buck nodded and then turned around. He looked back at the two medics injected the hunters with antibiotics and then with some medical fluid. He could hear them talking but it sounded like mumbles at this distance.

But then something peculiar happened. Sky leaned close and said something to Peasant. He recoiled back with a gasp and looked at the unconscious girl, then back at Sky. He tossed a syringe at Sky, pointed at Jaune, then rushed over to the girl.

Even with the helmets covering their eyes, Buck learned to read his teammates facial expressions. Whatever the huntsman told him, it shocked and scared Peasant. It made him immediately rush to the poor girl. What was so special about….. Yang was her name right? Did she suffer a more critical injury?

"We're here!" Buck turned to see Cardin and the rest of his squad storm up from the stairway. "How are they?" Cardin asked with concern as he, Scarecrow, Ozone, and Royce jogged up to the two medics and came to a halt in front of them, grimacing at the sight.

Scarecrow dropped his arms, his gun rattling in his shaking hand, his mouth agape with shock. Ozone made a motion with his hands and offered a silent prayer for those two poor souls. Royce gritted his teeth and tightened his grip on his weapon. Cardin slowly walked up and kneeled next to Jaune.

"What the fuck did they do to you man?" He asked rhetorically as he placed a hand on Jaune's forehead and wiped some blood off.

"Fucking animals, the lot of them." Royce growled in anger.

"Chemo, any luck?" Buck called out.

"No sir," Chemo replied. "I can't raise 479er. I'm only getting static." Everyone took a moment to realize what that meant.

"Uh, does that mean we're stranded until reinforcements come?" Meat asked, breaking the silence.

"It better not!" Sky shouted in frustration. "We need to get these two out n-"

"Movement!" Archer cried out. "At the breach point!" Everyone barely had time to aim their weapons before gunfire erupted.

"Oh shiiiiit, WHITE FANG REINFORCEMENTS!" Meat yelled as he, Dove, Peasant, and Chemo jumped off the container for cover, dragging Archer down with them, who cried out in pain after landing on his bad leg. Everyone else took cover and began taking pot shots at the approaching terrorists.

"Looks like I was right about everyone being away." Scarecrow muttered as he blindly fired his rifle.

"Stop being right all the fucking time!" Royce retorted before ducking down to avoid incoming fire.

Cardin took out his scroll for a brief moment to check his team's arua levels. They were all in the dark orange. Sky had the highest at an estimated 15%. "Fuck." he muttered. "Guys, our aura is in the shit!" He called out, hoping it wasn't loud enough for the White Fang to hear. "Don't charge out there!" He yelled with concern. He grabbed a gun from one of the grunts they've taken out earlier and began taking potshots. The rest of his team, except Sky, followed in his actions.

The White Fang soldiers managed to gain a foothold and began using crates and shipping containers as cover. The sounds of motor engines reached the ears of the Atlas and huntsmen trainees. Four armoured police vans, the PD logos scraped off, rolled in. They paused to unload the grunts they were carrying before parking at an angle to give the White Fang more cover.

"WAIT FOR THE TURRET TO ARRIVE BEFORE ADVANCING!" a feminine voice echoed over a loudspeaker. Moments later a SWAT van with an shielded machine gun rolled in. "TURRET'S HERE!" The soldiers and huntsmen ducked behind cover as the turret provided suppressing fire.

"Auto 43!" Ozone shouted. While the Auto 43 used a much smaller round than the Bolter 42, the Auto 43 had a significantly higher fire rate.

"WAIT FOR THE TURRET TO FLANK THEM BEFORE ADVANCING!" The woman on the loud speaker said, followed by a minor chorus of cheers. Continuing its strafing fire, the SWAT van started to move forward, off to their left flank. Buck was about to panic and give orders to turn back. But then he realized the SWAT van was heading towards Cardin, and grinned.

Cardin prepared himself behind a crate as he saw the SWAT van coming towards him. When the van was about to drive right next to him, he striked. With a loud battle cry, he channeled aura through his arms and in the dust crystal in his mace. He then hopped out of cover and slammed the mace down in an arc. The force of the impact smashed in the frontward engine and caused the van to flip forwards. It rested on it's front bumper for a moment and then fell to the right, on it's side.

One of the rear doors opened, revealing a grunt groaning in pain. He only managed to poke his head out when he came face to face with Royce's rifle. His head exploded as Royce pulled the trigger, and then emptied the rest of his clip into the van, killing everyone else who survived. No one noticed that he had a grin while doing so.

"THEY GOT HUNTSMEN!" the loudspeaker woman said.

"That bitch really likes to hear her own voice," Russel grunted as he took blind shots with a rifle.

"HOLD POSITIONS AND KEEP THEM PINNED!" Buch peaked over his cover and singled out the speaker. "I'LL DEAL WITH THESE HUNTSMEN MYSELF!" The woman was speaking through her scroll. She was a tiger faunus with orange skin, slanted yellow eyes, platinum blonde hair , cat ears, and sharp fangs. She had white armour covering her biceps and thighs. A black set of armour protected her chest, stomach, and back. She had on black pants and combat boots, as well as a black long sleeved shirt and fingerless gloves. She had a rifle holster strapped on her back.

"We have an officer!" She heard one of the human scum yell to his comrades. She turned to see one of them aim their rifle at her. She raised her hand and an orange glowing shield appeared in front of her, blocking the shots. Her semblance allowed her to create barriers to block incoming attacks, but each hit took away some of her aura. "Fuck, she has aura!" The same Atlassian pig cried in fear. Her eyes narrowed as a smirk formed on her face. She equipped her rifle from the holster on her back.

The rifle had the design of an old war rifle, but the wood has been replaced with a shiny chrome finish, the grey metal parts were now jet black, the buttstock has been removed, and a bayonet was added on the barrel. Where the buttstock would attack to the rifle's body, right above the trigger, were two slots where she could insert vials of powdered dust to enhance her bullets. In this instance, she can fire incendiary and cryo shots due to the ice and fire dust vials. However, she can only use one at a time and was low on dust thanks to the Grimm, and her rifle can only fire in semi-auto.

* **Note for Qopster: imagine an SVT 40 rifle but with chrome instead of wood and without the stock, and jet black instead of grey** *

She flipped to the ice dust vial and fired a few rounds towards the Atlas soldiers. They ducked down as the bullets impacted and created blocks of ice on their cover. One trooper in the middle of their line wasn't fast enough and had his arm encased in ice, stuck to his cover. She brought up her aura shield and switched to the fire dust vial. Leaving a small hole in her shield for her gun, she quickly advanced towards their right flank. She fired shot after shot at her enemy, keeping them pinned as her incendiary rounds lit and melted the crates and containers they were using for cover.

The tiger faunus reached a large container on their flank and hid behind it. She checked her magazine to see she had enough fire dust for one more shot. She stealthily peaked to the side and saw that she had a clear line of sight on the one dual wielding pistols. She shouldered the rifle, aimed for his head, and pulled the trigger.

Russel cocked the gun after putting a fresh magazine in when he heard Buck cry out in pain. He turned to see Buck fall to his side, desperate to get his helmet off, which now had an orange glow on it's left side. He rushed to his side and helped him get his burning hot helmet off. He tossed it aside and examined his face. Buck had streaks of second degree burns across the side of his face.

"Fuck you, you animal cunt!" Royce shouted as he opened fire, trying to get an angle around the approaching tiger faunus's shield. As she sprinted closer, Royce's gun clicked empty and the White Fang officer transformed her gun. The bottom of her gun folded to the top, revealing a revving up chainsaw blade made of stainless steel. The gun handle folded up to line up with the rest of the rifle and the barrel retracted into the rifle. She lowered her shield as she swung up her chainsaw sword.

"Gah, fuck!" Royce shouted as he raised his rifle to block the blow. The chainsword cut through Royce's rifle, but it gave him time to back away to avoid the swing. The faunus quickly kicked him in the chest, denting his armor, sent him back to the ground. She let out a roar as she jumped into the air with the intent to end the man's life. But while in mid-air, Cardin hit her in the side with his mace. She fell to the ground but quickly got up to charge at the mace wielder. However, Dove intercepted her with an aura charge. The impact sent her flying back, but she recovered in time to bring her shield up to block Dove's nova attack.

Russel saw what was happening and knew he had to act. "Scarecrow!" he ran up to the man. "I need some grenades! I'm going after that officer!" Scarecrow nodded and handed a leather strap with 5 grenades attached.

"These are all I have left. Waste the bitch!" He shouted over the fire from the White Fang line. Russel nodded and rushed to aid his teammate.

Dove's sword was blocked by the officer's aura shield. She put the shield down and transformed her weapon back into its rifle form. She fired two shots in rapid succession at Dove's chest. His armour stopped the bullets from hitting his skin, but his chest and right arm became encased in ice. The weight brought him down to the ground on his stomach. He struggled in vain to to try and free himself. His eyes widened in fear as he heard his scroll alarm going off, signaling his aura level was now just around 5%, maybe lower.

The faunus licked her lips, her eyes shining with glee at the boy's despair. Before she could do anything, she jerked back to dodge bullets fired at her. Bringing her aura shield up, she saw the spiky-punk haired huntsman hip fire a rifle as he sprinted towards her. When the rifle clipped empty he threw it at her and equipped his daggers, switching the canister to fire dust, giving his blade's a red glow.

The faunus let the boy's strike hit her shield before dropping, attacking him with several long slashes with her loud, revving chainsword. After a fourth lunge was blocked by his daggers, Russel began to do quick, aggressive slashes against his opponent, sparks flying with each impact. He quickly gained the upper hand. Though unable to land a blow on her, he was quickly pushing her back and gaining ground.

They quickly found themselves among rows of large shipping containers. The faunus saw an opportunity and took it. With her next strike she brought her chainblade down, forcing him to block it with both daggers, and pushed forward. Russel stumbled back but still had his daggers up, ready for another strike. Instead, the faunus picked a grenade from her rear belt and threw it straight down. It exploded on impact, creating a smoke screen. Russel waited for her to make a move but the smoke disappeared two seconds later, revealing that she disappeared.

Russel didn't even panic. He closed his eyes and activated his semblance, hunter vision. He then frantically looked around him and finally found her. She was prone on top of a shipping container, no doubt waiting for an opportunity to strike. An idea formed in his head as he spun the canister on his daggers to ice dust.

The faunus peaked over and saw that the punk haired human was moaning and rubbing his eyes. Perfect, the smoke must have irritated his eyes. Maybe he's sensitive? It didn't matter. She quietly and quickly got up and launched towards him. But half way and while mid-air, Russel jumped and did a backflip to dodge her strike. The faunus just missed her strike and landed on the ground. Not even a second later, Russel slammed his daggers down at an angle, covering the floor in front of him, and the woman's legs and weapon, in ice.

"Damn it!" she yelled in rage as she tried to free herself. She managed to rev up and free her chainsword, when see saw the huntsman drop something in front of her.

"Burn bitch," Russel said as he dropped the grenade belt and ran past her to go unfreeze Dove. The faunus gasped in panic and slashed faster against the ice to free her. She luckily managed to free herself two seconds later and quickly tossed the belt back at the huntsman and raise her shield. All five grenades exploded in mid-air, protecting her from damage, but the force of the blast sent her flying back.

Russel reached Dove and managed to thaw him out with a quick strike with fire dust equipped. Dove stood and was about to thank him when the grenades exploded. To make matters worse, the grenade's explosion pierced a nearby container and ignited the fire dust crystals stored inside, catch both of them in an inferno. The force from the massive explosion sent them flying back, landing close to where Cardin was. They didn't get back up, and their clothes and skin were covered with scorch marks.

"Dove! Russel!" CRDL's leader shouted in fear upon seeing his friends' still bodies. He tried to rush out to get his friends but was immediately forced back down when heavy gunfire tore off a chunk of flesh from his left shoulder. His aura reserves were completely depleted. His scroll showed the same for Dove, Russel, and Sky had poured what aura he had left into Jaune and Yang. Cardin wasn't a religious man, but at that moment he started praying to whomever would listen.

"Running low on ammo!" Chemo shouted.

"Here, last mag, make it count!" Meat responded as he tossed a magazine to Chemo.

"I'm completely out!" Ozone said as he unsheathed his sword. All Atlas soldiers were equipped with a sword as a last, desperate measure against the Grimm if you ran out of ammo.

"Same here!" Scarecrow said, also pulling out his sword.

"Half a mag left!" Royce said as he fired two more shots from a pistol Buck tossed him. "Buck, what do we do?" He fired another shot and crouched back behind cover. "Buck?" Royce turned to where his leader was. Buck was sitting down clutching his burnt eye. Buck slowly began to stand up.

"L-lads," Buck addressed them slowly, taking a few moments to look at Jaune, Yang, Russel, Dove, and the rest of his team. "I-... i-it's been an honor." He leaned back against his cover, dropped his empty pistol, taking his officer's sword out of it's seath. "I'm sorry."

"TWO OF THEIR HUNTSMEN ARE DEAD AND THEY HAVE NO AMMO LEFT! CHARGE!" The tiger faunus rallied her forces, followed by a chorus of battle cries as the White Fang began their mass charge.

At that moment, any small amount of hope Buck had was gone. All of his thoughts turned to his family, the broken promises he told them about being safe, the good times he had with his squadmates. He hoped they could forgive him. Team CRDL, though he met them briefly, they were tough sons o' bitches and were good people. He was proud to have met and fought alongside them. He suppressed his tears and gave one last, long sigh between his gritted teeth. This was the end.

At least, he thought it was until he heard the all too familiar roar of multiple bullheads coming in fast.


	4. The things we go through chapter4

The White Fang forces scattered behind whatever cover they could find. Those that weren't fast enough were immediately gunned down by the incoming bullhead's auto cannons. The wall next to the first hole exploded and crumbled down, revealing two more bullheads. The first bullhead pulled in and opened its rear ramp and unloaded a dozen AK-200 droids. It then pulled out, and the AK-200s began to provide suppressive fire against the White Fang.

The second bullhead came in and opened its two side doors. Eight Atlesian soldiers jumped out of each door. Taking advantage form the droid's suppressive fire, the sixteen soldiers began a tactical advance. They split their forces into two groups and moved up along the flanks. The remaining White Fang troops were on Atlas' left flank, so all of the AK-200 droids focused fire there. This allowed the squad on their right flank to move in and get around them undetected. Almost undetected.

The tiger faunus growled in a frustration and anger. Today just hasn't been her day. First she had to lead a force to take out a large number of Grimm that gathered around, presumably because they were drawn in from the "interrogation" of those huntsmen scum. She lost some of her party to the Grimm and then came back to find their base being raided. And then to add icing on the cake, they get caught in a crossfire from Atlas reinforcements.

She used up most of her aura combating the Grimm and fighting those junior huntsmen. She weighed her odds. Her forces have took heavy casualties, but two of the junior huntsmen are dead, and the other two have now more aura left to fight, and the soldiers with them have no more ammo. She believed she had enough aura left to deal with the Atlas reinforcements and then retreat further inside and call for backup. The bullheads wouldn't dare open fire inside the compound with the risk of friendly on their own and the huntsmen. Plus by the sound of things, the bullheads were distracted by Grimm outside.

She heard footsteps approaching. "Alright, watch your spacing," a feminine voice commanded. "Split up into two groups. Flank through by the containers and catch these animals in a crossfire." The tiger faunus grinned. She was going to enjoy this. As four Atlas soldier rounded the corner, she thrusted her rifle forward, bayoneting the lead soldier in her neck. The soldier gasped for breath in vain, and then the Faunus pulled the trigger. She kicked the body back into two of her comrades, knocking them down.

She then immediately pounced on the third soldier and dug her sharp teeth into his neck and tore the flesh off. She quickly grabbed the fallen trooper's assault rifle and unloaded the clip into one the knocked over men. The last one got the body of her comrade off of her, and she pulled out her pistol in desperation. But before she could get off a shot, the faunus transformed her weapon into it's chainsword form and pounced on her, taking delight in her last dying screams as she sliced his gut open. The man whose neck she bit into finally stopped gasping and fidgeting and now lay motionless.

She stood up and brought her aura shield up to block the fire from the four other soldiers. She began to walk forward and then spit out the fleck from the man's neck, revealing a bloody, toothy grin. "More!" She licked her lips as the soldiers recoiled back in fear as the tiger faunus charged in a full sprint. "I want more!" She screamed in a bloodlust as she decapitated another soldier.

As she closed in on her next victim several high velocity shots impacted against her aura shield, making her stumble and stop. Each shot shook her to the bone. Whatever the weapon was it had high stopping power. She growled and turned to where the shots were coming from and saw more Atlas soldiers jump out of the third bullhead. But one person stood out. Someone that made her eyes narrow in frustration and shine with glee at the thought of killing.

General James Ironwood ran towards her as he reloaded his revolver, staring at the tiger faunus with anger filled eyes.

* * *

An image of a tiger faunus appeared on the screen inside the bullhead.

"Homau Dacam," an Atlas intel officer said. "She is a forty-three year old tiger faunus that was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder and cannibalism of six other faunus and humans beings in Vacuo. Three months ago, she was being transferred to another prison when the White Fang attacked the train convoy. We merged the prison car with a regular supply train to try and keep a low profile on prisoner transfers-"

"And the White Fang attacked it to steal supplies and found the prison car by accident." Ironwood finished the sentence in frustration. He need to see who thought that that was a good idea.

"C-correct sir. The White Fang were repelled but not before seizing several crates of supplies and freeing some of the prisoners."

"Including Homau Dacam," Ironwood said.

"Correct." The intel office responded. "Homau was soon promoted to the rank of an officer. She personally lead several of the White Fang's operations in the region around Vale, including the kidnapping and torture of the two Beacon students a few days ago."

"What about her fighting capabilities?"

"Information we received from Qrow tells us that Homau's semblance allows her to create an near indestructible shield that can block anything. However, it can only block from one direction and she loses aura by keeping it up over time and with each impact it deflects."

"General Ironwood," the pilot interrupted, "we're two minutes out from the compound. We still can't raise Sergeant Buck or the rest of his squad."

"Keep trying," the general commanded. The pilot nodded and Ironwood turned his attention back to the screen. "Is there anything else I should know about this Miss Dacam?"

"Just two thing sir. Firstly, she has shown to get lost in a 'bloodlust' in combat very easily. While it makes her more aggressive, it makes her more arrogant and less focused in combat. Secondly, it's about the weapon she uses, uh… Qrow reported that the weapon's name is Staryy Nadezhnyy." Ironwood's eyes widened in surprise. "Sir, is that the same Sta-"

"Thank you for the information. Ironwood out." He pushed a button on the screen and ended the transmission. Staryy Nadezhnyy. That was the name he gave his first weapon. But after an… incident, he couldn't wield the weapon with both hands, so he commissioned it and switched to using a customized revolver. The weapon was stolen during a White Fang raid on an Atlas Military compound six months ago. His blood boiled at the thought of it being used to hurt and kill innocent people at the hands of this mad woman.

"Pilot, any news on Buck's team?" Ironwood asked.

"No sir. They're either too deep inside the compound or they're being jammed." The pilot responded. "Also, we are one minute from the LZ!" The pilot yelled and flipped a switch, filling the canopy of the bullhead in an ambient red light.

"Alright men, Ironwood turned around to addressed the his troops. "Alright men, we're going to go in establish a foothold for the second wave! Weapons ready and prepare for a hot landing!"

* * *

"Pull back!" He yelled at the remaining three troopers as he reloaded his revolver. "She's out of your league! Go join the others on the left flank!" The soldiers obeyed and fell back. Ironwood ran between them and unloaded two more shots towards the Homau Dacam. Her aura shield caught the bullets and then she lowered it to swing Staryy Nadezhnyy. The chainsword was revving loudly, as if it was screaming for blood. Ironwood caught it mid-swing with both hands by the handle and struggled to hold her in place. He only flinched slightly when she started kicking him in the chest.

Using his memory of the weapon, Ironwood moved his fingers to where the safety switch was and flicked it. The chainsword's blade stopped revving, much to the confusion of the faunus. Taking the opportunity of the distraction, he brought his right leg up and sent Homau stumbling back. He followed by delivering a powerful blow to her hands sending Staryy Nadezhnyy flying and then decked Homau and forced her against a large shipping container. Homau retorted by pushing off of the container and charging at Ironwood.

She pounced forward and forced him onto the ground with the intent to chew and tear him apart. He quickly used his right hand to block Homau from biting down on his neck. Her mouth chomped down and sunk her sharp teeth in his right arm, and she wouldn't let go. Ironwood tried to shake her off, but she clung to him like a rabid dog. She started to claw at his arm and right side of his chest, revealing his robotic prosthetics. Ironwood grunted in irritation.

He quickly head butted Homau and punched her square in the jaw with his left hand. While she was dazed, he rolled them over so he was on top. He pushed his robotic hand in her mouth and forced it open, then immediately pushed the barrel of his revolver in, and double tapped the trigger. Both shots tore open the back of her neck. With sleight of hand, he flicked his wrist and pulled the trigger a third time. The bullet exited through the top of her head, bringing bone, brain matter, and blood with it.

"That was for my men you witch," the general spit out in disgust. He took a few moments to catch his breath and then slowly stood back up. He took a moment to look at the other side of the compound. The fighting had stopped. The White Fang forces were defeated and his men were rounding up the few faunus that surrendered. Additional bullheads came in and were offloading more troops, AK 200 droids and two 290 Paladin mechs.

Ironwood stood up and walked to where Staryy Nadezhnyy was knocked to and picked it up. He transformed it back into its rifle form and inspected up. The name that was inscribed in the side was scratched out and the iron sights were messed up, but the weapon overall was kept in good condition. Putting his pistol back in its holster, he walked back to the rest of his forces, ignoring the stares at his robot parts, right up to an officer.

"Lieutenant, give me an update," Ironwood commanded. The senior officer about faced and saluted the general.

"Sir, we established a foothold within this storage area of the compound," he said. "We've taken six White Fang prisoner. We have no wounded, but we lost six droids and seven men. We contacted the second wave. They'll arrive with med and casevac momentarily. We also managed to contact bullhead pilot 479er. He took heavy damage and crash landed, but a bullhead from the second wave managed to pick him up."

"Good," Ironwood responded, glad that it wasn't worse. "What about Buck's team and the huntsmen?"

"I uh… don't know their status. We dispatched one of our medics to check them out. They're by those shipping containers and wrecked truck over there. That's all I know sir."

"Ok. Have the rest of your platoon take defensive positions. Raido in that the second wave is to be prepared for CQB assault." The LT nodded and got out of the general's way. Ironwood marched to where Buck's team was. He arrived and overlooked the condition they and the huntsmen were in.

Three of the squad were sitting against a container. One had a bandage around his leg, the one he recognized as Buck had a bandage wrapped around his left eye, and the huntsman's shoulder was wrapped up in blood soaked rags. In front of them, two of the other huntsmen were laying on the ground motionless with another soldier, and a huntsman with a bandaged shoulder watched over them. He was visibly distressed and was muttering "they're gonna be fine" to himself. The other four soldiers and huntsman were crowded around the medics.

His eyes finally fell upon Jaune Arc and Yang Xiao Long as the medics worked on them. He had honestly seen worse, but he still grimaced at the sight. Ozpin and Qrow were not going to like this.

One of the soldiers leaning against the container turned head turned to the side, and his eyes widened in shock. "G-general Ironwood, sir!" He shouted and tried to stand up to salute him. Ironwood put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"Take it easy soldier," he said with care. He looked up to see the other troopers else saluting him. "At ease," he saluted back and then crouched by Buck. "How are you doing Sergeant?"

"Permission to speak freely, sir?" Ironwood nodded. "Everything's fucked up, but it's not as fucked up as it would have been if you didn't arrive when you did." Buck said, wincing though the pain he was in. "Thank you, sir."

"No thanks needed," Ironwood replied. "My men are going to clear the compound. Is there anything you can tell me that can help us?"

As Buck filled in Ironwood on the situation, two bullheads with a large red crosses painted on the side flew in.

"Medevac has arrived!" The lieutenant shouted. "Get the wounded onboard!" Paramedics ran out of the bullheads to where Buck's team was. Peasant and Sky loaded Yang and Jaune onto medical gurneys and got them onto the first bullhead. The paramedics got Dove, Russel, Buck, and Archer onto the second bullhead. The second they were secure the bullhead took off and flew as fast as the could to the nearest medical facility: the infirmary at Beacon Academy.

* * *

Ozpin sighed as he put his mug down on his desk and rubbed his temples. These past week have been very chaotic. There was a surge in in Grimm and White Fang activity around Vale. Atlas did their best to stop the White Fang and his huntsmen and huntresses did their best to quell the Grimm's numbers. The Grimm numbers have died down exponentially, but pockets have appeared in large numbers shortly after the White Fang's broadcast earlier this morning.

Qrow, Taiyang, and John and Jean Arc contacted him almost immediately after the broadcast. He wish he could give them more than a few, mostly empty promises. Everyone at Beacon was concerned about Jaune and Yang's safety. A scroll beeping shook Ozpin from his thoughts. He saw that the message was from Ironwood. He opened it immediately.

" _Ozpin, 2 medical bullheads are enroute to Beacon. They are carrying 5 wounded huntsmen and 2 of my soldier, including Jaune Arc and Yang Xiao Long. I'm leading my been to clear the rest of the WF base, more intel to come soon. BE ADVISED: 4 OF THE HUNTSMEN ARE IN CRITICAL CONDITION AND DETERIORATING FAST._ "

Ozpin bolted from his chair and stormed to the elevator. He dialed the infirmary on his scroll. "Infirmary, this is Ozpin. I need you to clear six emergency rooms for incoming patients. Four of them are in critical condition. They'll arrive via bullhead, they'll land right in front of the infirmary."

* * *

RWBY Chibi bonus skit!

Cardin Winchester walked into the post office carrying an abnormally large box. "Hello, I'd like to ship this to Vacuo." The receptionist nodded and went to the back to retrieve something. As he patiently, Coco Adel walled in and the two stared at each other awkwardly.

"Coco." Cardin acknowledged her presence

"Cardin," she responded. "So… what'cha mailing?" she asked out of curiosity.

"Oh just a little gift to an animal shelter in Vacuo." He responded.

"Since when are you a good samaritan?" Coco scoffed.

"Let's just say that I'm a changing man."

"Ok… say, have you seen Velvet around? I haven't seen her around all day."

"Nope, I haven't seen he-" the box in his hands began to rattle.

"Ugh." a muffled, confused, tired, and familiar voice came from inside the box. "Wait. Um, hello? Anyone? What happened?! Where am I? Someone help me!" Cardin's eyes widened in fear and Coco's eyes widened in shock and then narrowed in anger. Cardin dropped the box and bolted out the door before Coco finished unfolding her minigun.

Coco dropped her gun and opened the box. Packing peanuts spilled out of the box as Velvet's head shot out of the box, taking a long, deep breath.

"Thanks."

"No problem bun-buns."


	5. The things we go through chapter 5

Relaxing after a long day of classes (and extra classes courtesy of not paying attention), Jaune finally got to spend some time with the woman he loved. Yang Xiao Long, Jaune's…..girlfriend? It's been iffy as of late but not looking to bad either!

It all started with a few drinks that teams RWBY, JNPR, and CRDL were having after another session of missions shadowing various huntsmen/huntresses. Team CRDL was currently wowing everyone with tales of a new initiative by General Ironwood to have huntsmen teams paired with a squad of Atlesian soldiers.

"...and then we were surrounded by Ursi and Beowulf's, now that's not terrible but the squad leader, his name is Buck, was pissing his pants. Naturally I had to take over and save the day!"

None other than Cardin Winchester was currently boasting about a "macho" adventure on a trail run with the Atlesian soldiers. Everyone else was too busy enjoying their drinks or thinking of what to do when they got home.

"Hey, is anyone listening to me?" Cardin exclaimed but to no avail as his words fell on deaf, or more accurately drunk, ears. "Party poopers" he exhaled

At this moment Yang spoke up " Hey everyone, how's the drinks? Anyone need a refresh or refill?" Eyeing a particular goofing blonde but with the resounding silence she went and ordered another glass of beer at the bar.

As Yang left to go to the bar Jaune wondered why she looked so sad. He was about to get up and go talk to her when Weiss beat him to it. 'probably for the best' he thought, ' Weiss is her teammate after all' so he shrugged it off and continued having a laugh listening to Cardin tell over the top stories about Grimm raids.

After an hour everyone decided to head home and get some rest. Jaune felt bad for leaving Yang but she had Weiss, she's in good hands right? He battled with his emotions all the way back to the dorm.

It seemed like no time that he was back, that he heard a ruckus from across the hall followed a knock on his door. He lazily and haphazardly walked over to, it tripping over Nora in the process of which he got a swift foot to the middle of his back. How she pulled off such acrobatics while asleep is still a mystery. He opened the door and saw Weiss holding a very drunk Yang.

"Did we wake you?" Weiss asked hoping she was right

"Yeah but it's fine what can I help you lovely ladies with?" Acting macho for Weiss and irritating Yang.

"Yeah, we need a place to crash for the night. Our team is… otherwise engaged." She said with a look of don't ask."

They graciously walked into the room and Weiss tossed Yang on the nearest bed. She landed with a thumb and a sore as she had passed out a few seconds ago.

"Thanks again for this, can you make sure no one disturbs her. I'm going to go see about my team." She stomped out and before the door could shut you heard Weiss shouting at rwby and Blake for making such a racket over her board game.

"So…..I guess it's back to bed, oh right. Yang's in my bed. Hmmmmm" Jaune spent a good 20 minutes trying to figure out the situation and ultimately gave up. His bed was not his anymore. So he popped up in the chair and fell asleep watching over everyone.

Morning came and everyone started bright and early. Everyone except a certain long haired blonde by the name of Yang. JNPR let her sleep in as it's still a day off and she drank way more than the rest of the teams combined, being raised around Qrow tends to do that.

The team got a start early like they always did, mainly to get Nora her pancakes. As he returned she was groggily waking up but perked immediately when pancakes were introduced. Her and Ren had business with RWB. More like Ren was going to study and he dragged Nora along and they just so happened to be where Ruby, Weiss, and Blake played a game in the library. Aren't libraries for studying?

As he was leaving he nearly ran into Yang who was conversing loudly at Weiss.

"...turn around? What do I possibly have behind me?" And there stood Jaune.

"Hey Yang, sleep alright?" Jaune said, hoping he could keep a conversation going.

"Yea you know, sleep after being drunk is some of the best. Haha." Yang nervously laughed

"Wouldn't know, I stopped trying to keep up with you after 5 shots, haha." Jaune nervously chuckled as he scratched the back of his head.

"Sooooooo any plans for the day? Hanging with the team, going out to meet a special lady?" Yang teased.

"Haha what? No! I'm not seeing anyone currently. There's only one person that catches my eye anyways.." Jaune stated with a small smile forming looking at the ground.

"Oh? Well, she's pretty lucky to have caught your attention." A pang of jealously hinted at her voice.

"Wanna hang out?" Jaune asked hopefully."Like, grab a bite to eat or something?"

Her eyes lit up at the prospect of just being around Jaune " Yes!" She exclaimed " I'm starving! I haven't eaten since the day before last..." her stomach decided it should make itself known then by growling loudly.

"How about food first? I know a great place in town we can grab a bite."

* * *

Jaune slowly opened his eyes as the memories faded back into memory. He felt calm. Looking around he saw he was in a bullhead, he didn't remember going on a trip. The last thing he remembered was… oh dear lord the pain! He his body hurt everywhere. Well, everywhere but he legs. He looked down only to see he had no legs! At this point he felt it was time everyone knew he was awake and proceeded to scream at the top of his lungs, drawing the immediate attention of Sky. He rushed over to Jaunes side and was wide-eyed for some reason, probably his lack of legs.

"Shhhhh. Jaune, calm down everything's going to be alright." Sky calmly said.

Something about the way he said it made Jaune stop. He saw Sky was pressing his hands to his chest, 'that's right, Sky could calm people down by his aura.' Jaune then turned his attention back towards Yang, he was going to ask how she was doing but his mouth wouldn't work. She was twitching all over the place and Jaune lifted a shaky finger pointing towards her before he passed out.

As Jaune drifted off into unconsciousness once again, Sky turned back to Yang's body.

* * *

He was winded as all hell. Sparing with Yang, even in the controlled environment of the classroom, was difficult on the best of days. The more hits she took the stronger her hits became. He noticed something...off. She seemed slower and more winded than usual. He came at her going for a clear faint right then quickly dodged under her punch and planted both feet on her back and pushed her away. Doing this caused two things. One, a brief moment to breathe from the barrage of punches and kicks. More importantly, though he touched her, just through physical contact even if he didn't have his semblance totally activated he could "see" things about a person. He generally kept this quiet except to the team. His eyes went wide and realized he had to end this as quickly and painlessly as possible.

"Alright, Yang it's time to finish this."

"Bring it on chicken shit..." he breathing coming in short gasps.

Sky knew this was going to hurt a bit but if he times it just right it wouldn't hurt anyone who didn't need to be hurt. He charged again but instead took the blow straight to the guy surprising Yang. Clenching both hands around hers and using her momentum, lifted her up and swung her hard on the ground making her land on her back. Then proceeded to circle around his downed opponent and go for the finishing blow. Just before he could he faintly heard "...you win this time." He stopped and looked around, clearly no one else had heard. Smiling to himself he put a hand on her and drained his aura to calm her down and get her energy back. Getting up he walked over to Professor Goodwitch and whispered to her. Her eyes widened and stated that the match was over and request medics rush Yang to the hospital for rest.

* * *

Sky was worried, Yang wasn't stabilizing and rapidly deteriorating. He shared a look with Peasant and started silently praying to whoever was listening that Yang would make it.

Peasant was running on fumes just as Sky was, but pure adrenaline was keeping him going worried as all hell over Yang, Jaune was pretty rough as well but he's seen worse. He injected another small dose of morphine into her to reduce the shaking. Nothing more he could do in the bullhead… just wait and pray.

She would live, but he just hoped that they made it back to Beacon in time to save the baby.

* * *

Yang was enjoying herself white a bit, unbeknownst to everyone except for Jaune, herself and Sky. Sky was team CRDLs medic and residental go-to for any bug, sniffle, broken bone or anything else that could be wrong. In Yang and Jaune's case though it had nothing to do with broken bones or a case of the "man flu" as she called it. She was pregnant! About a month and a half along by Sky's words. She couldn't be happier, well she could but she'd take what she got. The big news was telling her father and then explaining why the hell she wasn't married….

"Hey Hun, what's on your mind?" Her boyfriend asked slightly worried with his hand on her lower back

"Yeah, sorry I didn't mean to worry you Jaune but thank you for caring. I'm fine really I promise." Yang said with a sigh, ever since she became pregnant Jaune seemed on hyper alert for any and all dangers to her. Both existent and not.

"So where's that shop you wanted to check out?" Jaune asked, snapping Yang back to reality.

"Just up the street! It's so pretty I hope you help me pick something out this time." She stated with a bite. Every time, every TIME they went to go baby shopping he managed to duck out! Either he had a mission or he just disappeared! It was annoying, to say the least but she got him this time with no way out. Brilliant tactician my ass, couldn't even see his way outta the….

*Ring* *ring* "Hello? Yes, this is he…..really? But I'm bus…..ok I'm on my way.." he closed his scroll " Yang I'm sorry, I gotta go. Ozpin said he needs me and my team for the next batch of huntsmen with Atlesian soldiers."

"You have got to be kidding me?! We've planned this for weeks and now he pulls you away?" She couldn't believe it, the gods were conspiring against her. That's it, or Ozpin just as an uncanny awareness of bad timings and how to capitalize on it.

*ring* *ring* "Yes, really? A whole week you say? Well, I'll try to not slack off thanks Professor Ozpin!" Jaune hurriedly put away his scroll and turned to Yang. "Ozpin said he got the dates wrong, we have a week before that happens. So I get to go shopping with you anyways!"

Yang prayed to whatever God was listening and thanked them. " So let's keep going shall we?"

As they walked to the store a person was walking past and abruptly stopped them.

"Hey! I know you two, you all were on the news during the breach!"

"Were we? I didn't see any…." Jaune started but was cut off by Yang

"Of course! Always happy to meet a fan and happy to help!" Yang cherry exclaimed.

"Do you mind if I get you to sign my scroll?" the mystery passerby asked.

"NOT a problem! Yang said, "what should I write?"

"Oh nothing important, just put 'For Vale'."

Not hearing half of what he said and as Jaune wasn't paying any attention to small canisters dropped with a loud clang.

"Hey, buddy you dropped something…" Jaune started as the stranger had a grin on his face and the canisters exploded.

Yang's world was a painful bright white and ringing in her ears for several agonizing moments. but it felt like hours. "-sier than I thought." Yang was able to hear some of the man speaking as the ringing started to die down. As her vision slowly started to come back to her, she saw the man's grinning face up to hers.

"Ya know, we were originally just supposed to find some students to make an example of," he taunted as Yang tried to move but found that she couldn't. "But who would have thought we would come across two heroes of the breach? Aw man this is just too good."

The next thing Yang knew, a rag was pressed against her face, and everything went black.


	6. The things we go through chapter 6

As the bullhead lifted off with the four medics to care for the wounded students and his own personel that required immediate medical attention. Once the aircraft was clear, general Ironwood turned back towards the base and had a PFC run up to him and render a crisp salute.

"Sir, we have two teams sweeping the building for stragglers. Also there is a team securing the perimeter against remaining Grimm. There's a medical team caring for the strike team that originally handled the rescue." Clearly his first field report as he was out of breath and shaking.

'He can't be more than twenty, poor guy.' Ironwood thought, "First field report son?"

"No sir, first time seeing so much blood. Will the students be alright?" He asked.

"Not to worry, they'll get the best doctors in the country. For now we can't worry about that, we need to secure this facility for any Intel. Understood?" Ironwood added a snap to the end to emphasize his point.

"Yes sir!" the pfc turned and went back to his team.

'I'd prefer experienced soldiers handling this, but that's why I'm here.' Ironwood started walking towards the remaining troops from the original assault. "Give us a minute please." He said to the medics.

They turned to the General and, with a salute, walked away. Ironwood turned to the squad and addressed the nearest one. Chemo if he recalled correctly. "Chemo, status update."

"As I'm sure you saw Archer and Buck needed some medical attention, the rest of us are wore out or scratched up. Nothing that can't be fixed right here. We're here to help securing Intel in the building once the medics clear us." 'hopefully they don't take forever dammit.' Chemo thought, really wanting another crack at some white fang picks.

"Take a moment to rest up and get a bite to eat, thats an order team." Ironwood walked over to one of the crates off loaded from the bullhead and inside was rations. "Take your pick but be quick about it, I want you all to help secure the perimeter or search for intel." As he walked towards the building Ozone started passing out rations to his team.

Ironwood made his way into the building he passed several rooms. At the fifth one he decided to look in, seeing that it was already clear he looked around and noticed a workbench with an old style radio. 'A very old radio, does it even work?' He thought to himself.

Moving over to the bench he turned a dial and flipped a switch, his old academy teaches from a seldom used class coming back to him. Hearing the squelch of the radio tuning in he turned the dial and saw the frequency change. Thinking hard he dialed to a frequently used used channel.

"General Ironwood to anyone within distance, respond." Hearing nothing back immediately he tried again. "To anyone on this frequency, this is General Ironwood come back." nothing but static greeted him. Turning the radio off he turned and walked out of the room. Proceeding down the hallway, Chemo and the group caught up with the general.

"Sir, mind if we accompany you securing intel?" Ozone asked taking up the rear.

"More eyes the better, were looking for anything. But you already know that, let's split into two teams to cover more ground." Ironwood suggested not expecting any resistance.

"Sir, all due respect but I'm going to have to say no. There are more than enough people hear to cover the entire base. What I suggest instead is that we widen our coverage area. You're the commanding officer after all." not giving him time to respond Chemo belted out orders "Ozone, you Meat and Royce fall back ten meters and double check our sweeps, cover our flanks and make sure no one is following us."

Those three fell back and General Ironwood, Chemo and Scarecrow all took positions and and started searching rooms not finding anything of importance. A few scraps of paper here or an empty lab there ( not that anyone wanted to speculate as to what they would need a lab for….) Not finding much of anything for three levels Chemo fell back with Ozone and asked for an update.

"I've got nothing, no stragglers, no info, no intruders, it's to damned quiet in my opinion Chem. We're getting pretty deep, I wonder how deep this facility goes?" Ozone stated keeping an eye down sights.

"Understood, keep an eye out." Chemo said as he walked away Ozone rolled his eyes 'Keep an eye out…..a joke or poor choice of words' going into another room he took a quick sweep but something caught his eye. It looked like…..a metal binder? "Chemo! I've got something in here!" He called out and everyone rushed in.

"Ozone report what is it?" Chemo barked, getting into the room.

"A metal binder, don't know what it is but I'm checking for traps." Ozone said as he did a field test (or twenty) to checks for obvious traps. "I'm still uneasy but I think it's safe." He said as he gingerly picked up the binder. He set his weapon on the nearby table and took a closer look for traps inside the binder. Never could be too careful with anything the Fang had. "Scarecrow, come here a sec and give it a once over will ya?"

"You got it." Scarecrow said as he thoroughly looked over every inch of the binder. He took out a combat knife and slowly inched open the pages but nothing seemed out of place, just a regular binder. "I'm calling it clear man, I've got nothing." He told Ozone. Moving to the side to let Chemo at it he retreated to the other side of the room as Chemo opened it up.

"General Ironwood Sir, this all seems like schedules and plans." Chemo said flipping through the pages, "I see hear where they planned the kidnapping, they didn't even plan on taking Yang and Jaune...damn those bastards."

"Anything that we don't know sergeant?" Ironwood asked with some impatience.

Chemo was flipping through the pages and scanning quickly for important stuff. "Sir I've got something you need to see this."

The General walked over and took a look at the binder, scanning the page he saw what Chemo was talking about. "if that's accurate then we have to warn Ozpin right away!" Ironwood pulled out his scroll but they were so far underground that he didn't have any signal. 'Damn things never work when you need them.' "We need to get to the surfa…." Ironwood started when gunfire blasted apart the door frame startling everyone in the room.

"Sound off, anyone hit?!" Chemo shouted over the roar of the multiple small arms currently making lunch out of the wall.

"Ozone, good."

"Scarecrow, good."

"Royce, good."

"Meat? MEAT! He's down drag him back now!" Chemo barked as he chucked a smoke grenade down the hall. As Ozone grabbed Meat and dragged him back into the room. "Ozone get clear 'nade out!" Chemo chucked a WP grenade down the hall, as a white flash and bang went off the gunfire subsided and was replaced by a scream. Smirking, Chemo turned to the General and nodded. He nodded in return in understanding. Chemo posted at the door and peeked out to see that the fang troops had fallen back to care for the guy who got hit. Chemo turned back and motioned for everyone to move down the hall, he turned back and sprayed in bursts as they evacuated down the hall.

"Chemo were clear move your ass!" the General said.

'I'm not making it without a scratch' Chemo thought as another hail of bullets chewed the concrete wall apart, the bullets slowly penetrating. 'Probably armor piercing, the bastards.' Ozone peeked his corner and started spraying to cover Chemos advance.

Chemo saw the opportunity and broke cover to run to the others. As he was about three feet from the corner he reached out and grabbed Ozones hand and started being pulled as a sharp pain bloomed in his side and upper right thigh. Closing his eyes as the pain was over taking his ability to think he got dragged around the corner and he heard Scarecrow yell out.

"Fangs bastard! Grenades out fall back!" Scarecrow yelled out as Ozone drug Chemo back. Now with two people injured they were in trouble, they needed to find a place to bunker down until reinforcements came. He was getting flashbacks from about an hour ago...this was a hell of a week so far.

* * *

The private was with his squad securing the perimeter as gunfire sounded from the building. He turned to his leader and he nodded. They all rushed towards the building. As they got closer they heard the sound of a snap followed by a loud scream. He recognized it as the effects of a white phosphorus grenade. One of the nastiest in the arsenal, used for clearing a path or inflicting heavy enemy injuries. They increased the pace as they hit the building.

Room by room they cleared and advanced through the first two floors. Each room threatened to be the last as the gunfire got louder, the snaps grew in frequency and finally a shout was heard. "Fangs bastard! Grenades out fall back!" unknown who said it they all dived into nearby rooms until the explosion happened and the building rocked. As debris rained down the private got up and swayed for side to side. He eventually got his bearings and aimed down his gun as he proceeded down stairs and saw a group of ten men armed with rifles, side arms and many, many grenades. They hadn't noticed him so he took out a grenade and rolled it towards them.

He waited, it felt like an eternity as he watched it roll. One step, it changed with a sound he was sure that everyone heard. Two steps, it was slowing down but he was confident it would make it's mark. Three steps, it should have gone off by now, right? Why hasn't it gone off? He took a closer look and saw…...the pin was still in!? He can't believe he made such a rookie mistake! 'Wait a minute, they haven't seemed to notice!' He thought, he took aim down his rifle and as he pulled the trigger a loud bang went off. 'Did I get one?' he went to raise up but felt a pain in his chest. He gripped his chest and looked down, his hand was covered in blood. He raised his eye sight and none of the men had moved.

"Next time kid, check your corners." a man that was holding a revolver similar the General Ironwoods and the barrel was smoking. As the private was falling he went to join his comrades.

* * *

General Ironwood heard an unmistakable sound. It was a loud and reverberating bang. The General turned the corner and saw an Atlesian soldier falling as a White Fang soldier stepped over the body. Ironwood saw that he was wearing special armor. Instead of the typical white tunic with a red tiger he wore metallic black armor from head to toe. It seemed flexible where it needed to be and he wondered if it was bullet proof, maybe a high caliber round could pierce it. Nothing standard could do the job that's for sure.

He took aim, as Ozone and Scarecrow provided covering fire, Ironwood pulled the trigger and the bullet hit his mark directly in the chest. The soldier fell back but he didn't see any blood spray, strange. The General begin to reload his gun as he saw the Fang member get up. His eyes bulged as he was unharmed! Barely a dent in the armor. 'This is infuriating, not even my revolver can put a dent in that.' He started patted down his jacket and eventually found it, he quickly punched in a code and a green light flashed on the screen. He smirked and peeked the corner and loosed two more shots, putting down two more people. Proud that his skills hadn't gotten rusty and pulled back and reloaded his revolver.

"General, were pinned in this room and running low on ammo." Meat reported as he reloaded his rifle.

Looking around Ironwood saw that the only avenue of escape was down the hall. If they tried that it would only end in a bloodbath, he hoped that they would get there in time.

"Steady men, make your shots count and no heroics. Got it?" Ironwood said.

"Yes, sir!" they all replied

"Good, now I've got backup coming in hot. All we have to do is hold out till they get here." Ironwood snapped the cylinder closed on his revolver. "I need you all to cover me as I take a peek."

"Yes, sir." Chemo, Ozone, and Meat all took up positions and waited for the General to give the order.

"Go now!" Ironwood ordered.

As they started covering the General looked down the hall to hear the faint sound of metallic steps. "We've got backup around the corner Gentleman, just a bit more and they'll help."

Meat had switched out with Scarecrow to reload and they started a rotation on reloading their rifles. Not able to stand due to the gunshot wounds he was prone and taking pot shots when he could.

As they heard the low thrum of metal against stone, they turned and saw a flash of white and chrome. Looks like the General had called for the two squads that were clearing the bunker for backup. No one told them that they were AK-200 droids. Over two dozen. 'Gotta love how cheap they are to deploy' Meat thought as he hunkered down so as not to get shot by them and took pot shots at the fang.

"Thanks for the quick thinking Sir, we should be able to take them out now." Chemo said.

"Were out of grenades, but it looks like the other squads aren't." Scarecrow said as he looked and saw two of the AK's shoulder mounted two rockets. "Well they have enough firepower don't they?"

"Seems like it…" Ozone deadpanned as he took another shot dropping another enemy.

The two AK's fired the rockets and caused the tunnel to cave in, effectively cutting off the enemy. They all stood up, checking their equipment.

"Alright guys, we don't know how long they'll be held back. We need to move, now!" Chemo said gathering up what they could and making one last sweep of the room. "Ozone give Meat a hand will you?"

As Ozone supported Meat while they all fell back down the hall Chemo was back stepping, keeping an eye on the now shifting rubble. 'Probably using what's left of their grenades to clear out the debris.' Chemo thought as he rounded the corner.

"Chemo, take five droids and scout ahead, last thing we need is to get caught off guard by more reinforcements." Ironwood ordered. He looked back, "Meat, how are you holding up?"

"I'll live sir, just a few more holes in my legs for ventilation." Meat said, groaning as his leg couldn't support any weight.

"Good to hear your humor hasn't taken a hit Meat." Ozone stated. 'Now I know, how we always run short of rations, Meats fat ass eats them all..'

* * *

Chemo was about halfway down the next hallway with six droids. He had a rifle, two smoke grenades, one WP, and four more clips of ammo. The five droids all had standard issue rifles, frag grenades, smoke, two WP. One droid was carrying a heavy MG with all the squads ammo. They cleared room after room and still no sign of any opposition.

'Seems like that was the only squad was that one. If that's so we need to finish searching this place and level it.' He thought as he cleared another room, still no notable Intel. 'I hate getting assigned a droid squad, so damn quite.'

"Sir, I found something in here." an unknown voice said.

'Who the hell said that?' Chemo thought, looking around he just saw the droids. His logic said it must have been the droids since they were the only things around. His brain said he's crazy. "Hello? Who's there?" Chemo shouted.

"Yes sir, I am. I've found Intel in this room."

"Seriously who's pulling my leg?" Chemo said, a smirk forming. 'It can't be one of the droids, I know we're on the edge of technology but even that's ridiculous right?'

"Sir, it's rude to say that although I understand you're skeptical. Can you take a look at this please?" one of the AK's said.

"Wow, thats impressive." Chemo said, 'Gonna have to talk to command when I get back.'


	7. The things we go through chapter 7

Chapter 7

**DISCLAIMER**

**I do not own RWBY,Blaisingfire(the original creator of this story) does not own RWBY. Rooster teeth productions does. That's why i still struggle paycheck to paycheck while they do not. This is a fan made parody so enjoy!**

"So, they made droids that can talk. I guess that's to make people like me not feel so lonely on recon missions." Chemo sighed heavily.

"Sir, can you take a look at this please?" the droid, now dubbed 1-1 by Chemo, said with a hint of annoyance.

'Oh? Emotions as well? Yeah I'm on my way 1-1." Chemo said mockingly, keeping his thoughts on military spending to himself. He walked into the room and took a look at what 1-1 wanted him to see. 1-1 handed him a record of the testing the Fang had carried out. He skimmed the pages and it looked like Yang and Jaune were just the first, and a prototype for something much worse. The Fang was planning a larger scale attack, but there was no mention on what the targets were. Frustrated, Chemo desperately scoured the charred remains of notebooks and hard drives for even a scrap of intel.

"My scans were thorough. It appears the rest of what could be intel is gone sir. We should keep moving and regroup with the other team." 1-2 said.

"Fine. 1-1 and 1-3, you're on point. Sweep and secure the next room. Everyone else, with me." Chemo walked out of the room, picking up his rifle leaning on the door frame, and started advancing down the hall.

Everything else went in silence. It seemed like that one squad was all the Fang brought, but if hindsight was 20/20 then that was an advance team to flush them out, and the rest were waiting in ambush outside.

* * *

It was slow moving. Meat's injury complicated things and Ozone wasn't too pleased having to carry him. Ironwood moved on point, his revolver was guaranteed to punch a fist sized hole in any soft targets they encountered. Scarecrow took the rear guard position to make sure the Fang squad wasn't catching up with them. "Scarecrow, how's it looking?" Ironwood asked.

"I hear nothing Sir. I think not that they would waste time digging through rubble. Were it me, I would re-grouped with the main force outside." Scarecrow replied, never taking his eyes away from the rear flank.

Considering Meats injury, they were making good time. The team's moral seemed to be alright, considering where they were. "Any word from Chemo sir?" Ozone asked, straining under Meat's dead weight.

"Not yet, I'll take no news as good news for now." Ironwood responded.

"Agreed sir." Meat said barely above a whisper.

Ironwood had a bad habit of ducking into a room after the advance team to make a quick scan. Not in part of any lack of skill from his men, but in their lack of experience. Something he has in abundance. After another twenty minutes, they caught up with the advance team. Chemo and the droids had stopped just before the exit of the bunker so the teams could regroup.

"Sir, there's the exit. I had 1-4 do a thermal scan and there's about ten men, one heavily armored. I don't think they know about this exit otherwise they would have it covered." Chemo spoke frankly to Ironwood while he sat against the wall, craving into the floor with his knife.

"That's fine, any ideas? Could we sneak past?" Ironwood suggested.

"Doubt it. We could try but with how close they are, any slip up and we would take casualties. I don't see a soft way outta this General.", Chemo replied, fighting to hold back a smile.

"Options?" Ironwood asked.

"Smoke and flashbangs to limit visibility. Then we can move deep into the room around the corner and dominate the opposition from there. Meat and Ozone posted here as rear guard and engage anyone caught in the flank." 1-2 suggested.

"Agreed. 1-2 and 1-4 will toss out grenades to cover us. Meat and Ozone, you two stay back and keep to cover. If anyone comes in here poking around then take care of it. Chemo, Scarecrow, weapons check and get ready to breach with the droids. Any questions?"

The team replied. "Copy." in unison as they all double checked their equipment as quietly as possible.

1-2 and 1-4 took positions near the door and got their grenades ready. They nodded towards Ironwood. Ironwood swiftly nodded back. They pulled the pins and tossed them around the corner. The two small cylinders rolled to a stop in the middle of the large squad of White Fang members. With a loud 'pop', smoke filled the area, followed quickly with a sharp crack and a blinding light. The team breached through the doorway and opened fire on the Fang. Sounds of gunfire filled the immediate area as the team dispatched the disoriented troops.

As the team left around the corner 1-1 stayed back long enough to distract the squad so the fang wouldn't go after Meat or Ozone. Meat and Ozone were tucked into a corner in the far end of the room and watched as everyone passed. Letting go of the breath they were holding they shifted only to see the leader in heavy armor slowly walking by. They suddenly stopped and Ozone leveled his gun at the door frame, the leader took a step into the door frame and slowly scanned the room. He had a holster on his thigh but no visible weapon in it. He took another slow scan around the room and settled on the exact corner that Meat and Ozone were in.

'There's no way he can see us, it's too damn dark. Even for night vision the daylight behind him would be throwing off his sight.' Ozone thought as he held his breath. Meat took his sidearm out of his holster and aimed at the officer. The officer reached behind him and pulled out a revolver similar to general Ironwoods. Instead of silver his gun was completely black, everything about it was pitch black. He leveled the revolver at the pair of soldiers and cocked the hammer back. As his finger began depressing the trigger Meat and Ozone were doing the same with their weapons. As Meat and Ozone were about to discharge their weapons a bright flash of light and loud bang filled the room and the smell of gunpowder filled the air.

* * *

As the bullhead was approaching Beacon academy the pilot radioed ahead.

"Beacon tower this is aircraft 1500, permission to land. Be advised, we have critically wounded people aboard who require immediate medical attention."

"Aircraft 1500, this is Beacon tower. Permission granted, medical personnel have been notified and will meet you as you touch down." The cisp and calm tone of a true professional came through on the radio.

"Beacon tower, 1500. We copy loud and clear eta five mikes." The pilot replied.

As 1500 approached five emergency medical were standing by to assist but we're terribly unprepared for what they were about to see. As soon as the bullhead landed they gathered around the offramp, two sergeants were helping Archer and Buck walk and four Gurney's were wheeled out with Russel and Dove, both unconscious with non-existent aura levels. Yang and Jaune were on the remaining gurneys and in terrible condition. Anyone else besides the team of friends that rescued them would have declared them D.O.A.

"My Lord what happened?" One nurse said barely above a whisper.

"It looks like they were gutted… I'm going to be sick." Another said as they held lunch down but only just.

Slapping the backs of their heads, a doctor spoke up. "Keep it together, we've seen worse. While this is undoubtedly the worst we've seen in awhile, it's not impossible to bring them back from the brink of death itself. Get them to surgery now! I'll be along shortly."

* * *

*3 days later*

Ozpin had been nice enough to provide Ironwood with the finest room on campus, normally reserved for himself or any recovering huntsman. Ironwood was woken from his sleep by rapid knocking on his door followed by the door sliding open and none other than Glynda Goodwitch intruding. "Why Glynda, to what do I owe the unexpected visit? You do realize I might not be alone?"

"Oh James, we both know you're very alone in here. I came to tell you that the surgery on Miss Xiao Long was successful and she's predicted to be awake in the next few hours." Goodwitch sighed pinching the bridge of her nose.

Ironwood threw back the sheets and swung his legs over the side to stretch out from his rest. As he was rolling his right shoulder he caught Goodwitch staring from the corner of his eye. Noticing she was caught she quickly turned around blushing furiously.

"See anything you like Glynda?" Ironwood said with a smirk on his face.

"Damn you James, just put some pants on!" Glynda said, not daring to turn around as her face could rival the color of crescent rose.

"So that's a yes then? Ok just wait outside I'll be there in five minutes." Ironwood said, satisfied he flustered her enough for at least the next week.

Goodwitch opened the door, stomped outside and slammed it closed. Silently fuming over how he got to her. Everything was quiet till a student was passing by and asked if she was alright. Glynda blew up on them telling them to mind their own business. Poor velvet didn't know what happened but she would go back to her dorm and certainly mind her own business.

Five minutes later Ironwood was walking out and accompanied by Goodwitch to Yang's recovery room. The trip was uncomfortably quiet as the history between Goodwitch and Ironwood was rocky at the best of times. 'Ozpin sent me to fetch him just because he knows it irritates me and I have to put on a good face, don't worry i'll get you back.' Glynda thought to herself with a mischievous smile forming.

"Whats got you in such a good mood Glynda?" Ironwood practiced his art of stating the obvious and getting under her nerves at the same time.

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with _General_." She added emphasis and a hint of venom to her reply.

"No need to bite my head off, it was just a question between friends." Ironwood said with his smug and knowing smile on.

"Lets just continue to the recovery room in silence please." Glynda sigh with exasperation.

Shrugging and continuing to walk they made the last twenty minutes in unsteady peace and quiet. As they approached the door Ironwood began to feel uneasy. 'What if something went wrong? This could be disastrous. The White Fang kidnapping huntsman in training… what's next?' Ironwood thought to himself.

Glynda was wondering the same thing as they opened the doors to the observation room. Once their eyes adjusted they saw Yang resting on a bed. Her arm was gone but anything else they would have to wait till she could have visitors. The doctor went out to meet them both.

"Yang's injuries were severe, nothing we couldn't handle. She's lost her arm and her stomach was in pretty bad shape. The surprising thing is the entry wound was done with a very crude instrument but the rest of the damage to her reproductive system was almost surgical." The doctor said with concern on his face.

"Wait, reproductive system? Why would they do that? She wasn't pregnant was she?" Both Glynda and Ironwood said at the same time.

"My guess is yes, it was a message. When they did this they made her lose her baby. If she doesn't know yet then she will know when she wakes up." The doctor said with his head hung.

Everybody in the room was silent. The doctor in memory for the fallen and Glynda and Ironwood both for the weight of the news.

"WHAT? Yang was pregnant?!"

Everyone in the room turned to see team RWB standing just inside the door with shocked looks on their faces. Ruby had a look of worry on her face as she stared at Yang. Blake's ears were folded down and her head hung and tears slowly streaming down her face. Weiss had collapsed on the ground and was cradling her head in her hands, her shoulders shaking in time with the sobs escaping her and tears freely flowed down her face. Blake was the first to recover.

"How far along was she?"

"It's impossible to tell offhand, but my best guess would be around the end of the first trimester." The doctor said just above a whisper.

The room, once again, fell into silence. All the friends looked towards Ironwood and Glynda. "Did you all know?" Weiss said glaring at them both.

"No, we just learned about this as well. Im sure the only person who might have known would be the father." Glynda said.

"Do we know who the father is?" Ruby said

"I think that's for Yang to discuss with everyone. I'm sorry." The doctor said.

"Any idea when she'll be awake and can have visitors?" Blake said looking hopeful.

"It could be tomorrow, It could be a month from now or six months. The healing process is all up to her natural abilities." The doctor pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Professor Goodwitch, could we stay with Yang? Wed like to be here when she wakes up." Weiss asked.

After thinking about it for a minute she responded. "I'll talk to Professor Ozpin."

* * *

He sat in his chair sipping on his coffee, looking over a recent report from Ironwood. Setting the report down Ozpin sighed. 'I'm tired of hearing about the fang and how uppity they've been lately. We need to do something about them.' he thought, his mouth forming a slash across his face. Suddenly there was a knock on his door and he put all of his materials away and stood up."You may enter."

Glynda walked in looking saddened at something and stopped a respectful distance from Ozpin. "I have a request Professor."

'Odd, she's usually not so formal.' Ozpin thought, "What's on your mind Glynda?"

"It's about the team's that Miss Xiao Long and Mister Arc are a part of. I'm wondering if they can be excused from classes until their teammates are recovered." She said skeptically.

"Yes." Ozpin responded simply.

Glynda stared at him with wide eyes, "Yes?" she asked

"Yes, the members of team RWB are excused from classes as is team NPR so they can be with Miss Xiao Long and Mister Arc." Ozpin replied knowingly. 'Things are progressing much faster than I predicted. I'll have to get in touch with the others soon and speed plans up.' A frown forming as dark thoughts clouded his mind. "Is that all Glynda, or is there something else you needed?"

Taken aback by the bluntness of his tone she took the hint. "No, that's all. Good day Ozpin and thank you." Turning and heading towards the elevator with haste she made her way to where RWB and NPR were waiting for the news. 'Something's bothering him, he'll tell us when we need to know.'

A:N I know this is probably late and i'm really sorry to everyone who has followed/favorited the story. Much appreciated to everyone who does, Seriously i get flooded with emails telling me this stuff. It warms my heart and makes my day everytime to see how many people read this! Ive been sick so thats why there was a delay this week but i'm feeling much better! Don't forget, if anyone has ideas, suggestions or concepts they would like me to look at then feel free to share them with me! I have nothing better to do with my time after i get out of work. Seriously its kinda sad I work, clean/eat, work on the truck and sleep. That's it!


	8. The things we go through chapter 8

**DISCLAIMER**

**I do not own RWBY,Blaisingfire(the original creator of this story) does not own RWBY. Rooster teeth productions does.**

*One Month later*

Making her usual rounds of the campus while everyone should be classes was great for Glynda. It was peaceful, quiet, the sun was shining, flowers blooming, no loud obnoxious students to make noise and destroy the school. 'Pure bliss.' She thought with a deep breathe and smile on her face. She took a step forward and a sudden overwhelming and unyielding force pushed Glynda to the ground. It was nothing like she had ever felt before, it was gone now but for that split second she could have sworn….she looked up from where she had hit the deck and closed her eyes. Dammit, just as she thought. 'Fucking rose petals…...gotta talk to that girl about her speed while on campus.' She forced her body back under control from the massive adrenaline rush that the infamous 'fight or flight response' produced. Her legs back under her she left the petals where they were and followed the trail to find out what would cause Ruby to use her semblance while at school.

 _With Ruby_

"Is she awake?!" Ruby questions trying her best to get around Blake, Weiss, and Pyrrha. "Come on guys I wanna see my sister!" she practically roared making everything vibrate.

"Guys I think she's fine just let her in before she busts through the indestructible glass." An electronic and amplified voice said. With a sigh the three parted the way and Ruby slowly made her way forward. There sat Yang, her blonde hair as untouched as always falling all the way down to the bed. Her clothes had been changed when she was brought in so she had hospital scrubs, something I'm sure someone got a good ole fashion Yang rant about her clothes. Her arm, or more accurately where her arm had been, had healed beautifully. Truly a miracle worker it looked almost as if an arm didn't belong there. It was as natural as could be, the remaining skin had been put back over the wound, cut down to size and sewed back on with bio-stitches. Eventually those would degrade when the skin was fully healed. Yang herself look a little pale but considered she was living off hospital food and no exercise she looked great.

"Yang.." Ruby said with tears swelling and stinging her eyes, "How're you feeling big sis?" she said as she slowly walked into the room.

"Well…" She started looking down at her arm, "I feel like I hit my goal finally." she said with a smirk forming that no one could see.

"Goal? What goal Yang?" Ruby questioned. Even Weiss and Pyrrha were confused while Blake face palmed as she prepared herself for some god awful joke.

"Well I promised myself I'd lose five pounds by the new year and I certainly feel like i have." everyone fell to the floor at the horribly timed humor except Blake, who predicted this and stomped forward. " Woah, easy kitty I was just joking, don't hit me." Yang flinched as Blake wrap her in a hug and started crying into her shoulder. Yang wrapped her arm around Blake and rubbed her back, something she knew Blake loved having done. After five minutes she calmed down and started to say something.

"That was terrible, and we're all here for you to get you through this Yang but please. No more bad jokes please. I don't think we could handle it." Blake said holding Yang tighter.

Everyone, having picked themselves up off the floor, looked at Yang and nodded. Sharing in their fellow classmates words. As Blake felt better she let go of Yang and took a couple steps back.

"Now that that's over. There's someone else who really needs to see you. Pyrrha, can you go get him?" Blake said knowing that Pyrrha always kept track of her clumsy team leader.

"Of course." She pulled out her scroll real quick and pulled up an app then quickly closed it.

"Pyrrha, are you telling me you planted a tracker on him?" Weis asked looking worried.

"Yes, I put a tracker on all of my friends so i can find them at a moment's notice." She said straight faced.

Looking worried everyone began patting themselves down, Weiss turned to her. "Were going to have a serious talk about personal privacy someday Pyrrha." As she ran off to get him everyone else turned to Yang. "So, what first?" Weiss said looking ready to jump on command.

"FIrst, i'd like to get into some regular clothes." She started to swing herself off the bed and promptly fell onto her right stump and let out an ear splitting shriek. Everyone rushed to her side and helped her back into a sitting position. "Maybe you should let us get them for you for now."

Yang's eyes went red and she turned her eyes towards Weiss.

"I can do it myself! My hand just slipped is all!" Yang shouted at Weiss.

Everyone backed up a step except Weiss. "Yang, your hand did not slip. Its not there." Yang's head hung down and she mumbled something that not even Weiss could hear. "Yang, it'll take time to get adjusted to this. I can't imagine how hard this is but we are all here for you you." Weiss placed a reassuring hand on her friends back. Just then the door opened to reveal Pyrrha had returned from her fetch quest.

"Hey guys, Im back!" Pyrrha said cheerfully and unaware of what just transpired. " Here let me help you into a seat." She took a step back and assisted Jaune with walking to the nearby seats on the wall.

Yang looked up in shock to see Pyrrha helping Jaune sit down in a chair. Jaune who had been there with Yang in the fangs facility and tortured to near death looked fine but as she drifted lower she saw both of his legs were gone. 'Fucking monsters, my arm and insides and his legs. They all need to be slaughtered.' Yang's fists clenched the bed sheets. "Hey Jaune how're you holding up?" Yang asked hoping he was coping better than she was.

"Hey, i'm doing alright I suppose. Hard to pick myself up most days but I get where i'm going." Jaune said with a sheepish smile on. Clearly Yang's bad humor had rubbed off on him.

"JAUNE, no bad." Pyrrha scolded him. "Don't pick on yourself like that."

Yang huffed a dry laugh at the humor and everyone was shocked. When they turned to her she burst out in a full on laugh. "Wow, you're handling things better than i expected. Hey guys can we get a few minutes alone?" Yang's asked everyone

"But Yang we just got here!" Ruby began to protest as Blake and Weiss dragged her out and the door shut behind them.

"SO, you obviously wanted to talk. What's on your mind Yang?" Jaune asked while seeming very interested in the makeup of the floor.

"I want to look at you. I want to know how you really are. I want to talk about us and what's going to happen, everyone needs to know. Im sure they know I was pregnant, they're just being polite and waiting for me to say something." Yang stared a hole through Jaune.

"I'd like to know all that as well Yang, Where are we in our relationship? My feelings haven't changed towards you, and while its a blow to know that you lost our baby it doesn't change how I view you. As far as what's going to happen i'm not sure what you mean honestly." Jaune said as he looked up at Yang.

Taking a deep breath that she didn't realize she was holding she started. "Its a relief to hear you say that Jaune. I feel the same really, But the docs informed me i'll never be able to have a child. Ever, those fang bastards ripped up my insides good. The docs were lucky to fix what they did." Holding her hand over her stomach she could see a phantom of the child that used to be there. Jaune's eyes went wide at the news that they could never have children again. As he struggled to get up Yang's head shot up and she swung off the bed and ran over to him and sat with him. Putting her arm around him she felt his shoulders shake and a sob escape him. She knew he was looking forward to being a father and probably wanted the bastards to pay just as much as she did.

"Thanks Yang, Thank you for being there for me back then and now. You're the best person in my life." Jaune said

* * *

Russel Thrush and Dove Bronzewing, two members of Team CRDL that were flown back to the hospital due to depleted aura and severe dust burns. Not near as bad condition as Yang and Jaune. Honestly those two were up and moving wayyyy earlier than they needed to by rights. After all this time russel and dove both were fully healed from the burns and aura was recovered nicely but they had yet to get the all clear from the docs. Needless to say they were annoyed beyond belief about this.

"How? HOW? Yangs and Jaune have visitors even before they wake up, they're up and moving around and we're still stuck in bed with not a soul here to visit us!" Of course Russel was being loud, obnoxious and irritating. Dove closed his eyes and tried to find his inner peace away from all that. "Hey, are you listening to me? HEY DOVE!" A tick forming on Doves forehead, he tried tuning it out once again."Hey, Dove. In all seriousness, do you think Sky and Cardin are alright?" Russel said finally calmed down.

"They're fine. I'm sure Cardin is more worried about us after seeing us engulfed in that dust explosion." Dove said calmly, never opening his eyes. In truth he was worried about the rest of the team. After the explosion Russel and Dove both had blacked out. He hoped that they killed that tiger bitch without to much trouble. The rest of what litte aura they had protected them but they still suffered severe burns, hence why they were at Beacon.

A door opened and in walked a nurse to see Russel and Dove both awake. Russel was clearly energetic as he could be heard down the hall, yelling at Dove. "So, good news you two." The nurse said with a small smile.

"Were cleared for another mission?" Russel said, perking up.

"Russel is leaving me alone?" Dove said, his eyes still closed.

"HEY! I'm not bugging you that much am I?" Russel said with a sarcastic hint of hurt in his voice.

"Russel, you're fine, I was kidding. In all seriousness, what's the news?" Dove said, finally opening his eyes and looking at the nurse.

With a loud screech, the door opens and everyone stares with wide eyes. 'Is this an enemy?' Ever mindful of the surroundings, Dove asks himself.

'Can that door sound any worse?' Russel thinks as he sees stars for some reason.

'Why is the door sounding that way, I just fixed it from Yangs last temper tantrum!' The nurse thinks, glaring at the door. When the door finally opened Professor Ozpin stood in the doorway and was staring curiously at the hinges, sipping on his coffee absentmindedly. "So, I heard you two were awake finally,' sipping once again at his coffee he paused, "What can you all tell me of what happened?"

"Well, Sir, I'm sure you've read most of the other reports. We can't tell you anything after the explosion of dust, we just hope that everyone else stopped that tiger bi….Lieutenant." Russel said with his head hung, feeling like he let his team down as tears stung his eyes.

"Russel's right Professor, unless you're looking for something that no one else could have seen or would be trained to look for?" Dove said with a strange feeling gnawing at the back of his head, its as if the assignments they went on weren't random anymore.

Ozpin smiled and looked at Dove, 'I always had a feeling he was sharper than his teammates, looks like I was right pairing them up.' He took yet another sip of coffee "Youre right, Im hoping you may have caught anything...unusual while you were searching. Also you are again correct in assuming i've read the reports from the Atlesian soldiers. Nothing truly not worthy in them, except that you took a particular interest in one room that we're all familiar with."

Recalling the room in question made both Russel and Dove grab their stomachs and turn a nasty shade of green. "Yes, we recall THAT room vividly...there was so much blood, The stench was overwhelming. Four fang bodies, Jaunes severed legs, Yang's arm cut off at the shoulder, cracked tiles indicating a major fight, but that's not surprising. Id have to go back and take a closer look at the room. We were in such a rush we could have skipped over any number of important things." Dove struggled to recount the details without being sick just from imagining the sickening odor that permeated the air and all the blood. 'I remember the video there was a ton of blood but when we got there most of the blood looked like it had been cleaned.

Noticing the glint in his eye, Ozpin just stood there waiting and swirling his cup. Finally Dove spoke up, "Sir! We need to go back there right away before someone decides its a good idea to destroy the evidence of what went on there!" Dove practically shouted.

Taking his time despite the urgency in Doves voice, Professor Ozpin calmly sipped his coffee one last time. "Very well, Mr. Thrush, Mr. Bronzewing. Well go back and search top to bottom and leave nothing to chance. We just need a couple more people, I do hope they are up to the task." Ozpin turned to leave but stopped short of the door. " Mr. Bronzewing, Mr. Thrush, Please join me for what i'm about to do. Nurse, If there's any problems with letting these gentleman out early please inform the concerned parties to take it up with Glynda. Have a nice day." As Ozpin started walking both Russel and Dove got up and started to run to catch up with him. Leaving a stunned nurse by herself with an empty cup of coffee and a room to clean and make ready for the next patients.

A/N: I do apologize as to how long it took me to get out of my…...dilemma and get this chapter out to you all. I will gladly take any and all feedback or ideas! Its most welcome and I actually use your suggestions to further the story, expect the next chapter in a shorter time. Read and Review please!


	9. The things we go through chapter 9

**DISCLAIMER**

**I do not own RWBY,Blaisingfire(the original creator of this story) does not own RWBY. Rooster teeth productions does.**

***Spoiler alert*** There is a line that slightly spoils a reveal in volume 5, you have been warned!

A lone bullhead ripped over the treetops towards its destination. The ship banked hard to the right through a valley, rudely interrupting the briefing going on inside.

"So, why exactly are we going back to that God awful place Ozpin?" Sky asked, trying to stuff his medical supplies back into his field pack..

"Because, Mr. Lark, there's something I simply must see for myself. Something I must confirm. To be clear, it wasn't my idea, it was Mr. Bronzewing's." Ozpin said with a mild disregard, his usual coffee cup noticeably absent.

"That's right, you mentioned something back in the hospital. I hope you can clarify what exactly you hope to find once we get there." A voice spoke up, clearly irritated at being left in the dark.

'It's amazing how we manage to get anything done with all these subtle hostilities.' One Dove Bronzewing thought to himself, trying to kept a straight face to hide his contempt. Not wanting anyone on the bullhead to get a read on his thoughts. "So, to answer the question, we are returning to the lab to make a more thorough sweep of the building. I'm sure I don't have to remind everyone of the huge rush we were in and the high probability that we overlooked a small detail."

"While that's true I still don't see why 'we' are going." Cardin asked aloud, drawing the attention and shocked looks from all but Ozpin. "We aren't exactly a surgical strike team. We're more suited to brute force and breaking shit. Shouldn't a technical team be going in, fresh eyes and all?"

'Well, he's smarter than he lets on. I don't regret my choice making him a team leader.' Ozpin thought to himself, instinctively attempting to take a sip of coffee. With mild disappointment, he instead cleared his throat. " Correct. Normally we would have a scout or technical team come in once a building is secured. However, your team has had prior experience with this particular location. Prior knowledge of its layout provides a distinct advantage in our current situation. Time, as is our usual, is not on our side, and you may be able to recall something you saw that you unconsciously ignored." Ozpin paused to compose himself, when suddenly Russel jumped in.

"What were you talking about back in the hospital Dove? Something about a cleaned spot?" Russel spoke up. His eyes closed and arms crossed in the corner of the the bullhead.

"We'll have to wait till we're back on site but, I'm sure I saw a clean spot on the floor were Jaune and Yang were tortured. Almost as if someone had deliberately mopped up the blood in that area." Dove said, closing his eyes to concentrate on the scene. Only able to form a fuzzy image of the room. With such a gruesome sight, it's no surprise his mind would try to repress it. Looking around the compartment, he slowly surveyed the atmosphere. So much tension from everyone, except for Ozpin. 'Collected as always. Focused and calm. A Huntsman through and through. Not like us, nervous and always making mistakes. You can feel it in his presence. He's standing right next you, but you feel we are light years away from him. We're just a bunch of kids, pretending to be what he is. Pretending to be Hunters.' Closing his eyes and sighing, he went back to his calm and light meditation.

* * *

The bullhead pitched and roared to a stop, hovering over a small clearing in the forest with the building nowhere in sight. "Pilot! What's the idea?" Cardin asked as he sluggishly pulled himself from his seat. He makes his way to the cockpit as the pilot was finishing putting the craft into hover and undoing his restraints.

"Professor Ozpin instructed that the insertion be this far out to avoid being ambushed by any reinforcements that may have retaken the lab. Leaves you in the position to do the ambushing if it comes to that. And last I checked, I take orders from him. If that changes, I'm sure he'll let you know." Nudging Cardin out of the way, the pilot continued towards to back, leaving Cardin there with a embarrassed scowl on his face.

"Alright team, we're heading back into the building that Yang and Jaune where held in to make a finer sweep of things. If we're lucky General Ironwood and his boys haven't demolished the place yet." Ozpin addressed team CRDL, and surprisingly Glynda Goodwitch.

"Professor Goodwitch! What're you doing here?" Russel asked loudly.

"Russel, you idiot. You couldn't sense her overwhelming aura in the bullhead?" Dove said, now standing and checking his weapons.

Deflated after being called an idiot, Russel looked around and noticed no else seemed surprised. He did his best to avoid eye contact with Goodwitch, now shaking her head. Scoffing he checked his weapons were fully functional and got ready with his team.

* * *

"Now, well fast repel down and make our way to the building. Caution takes priority people, we can't help anyone if we get hurt. Once were there, well asses the situation and decide what were doing from there." Ozpin shouted over the roaring wind. "Sound off when ready!"

A chorus of "ready" filled the compartment as the pilot stood in the back to make sure everyone didn't die jumping out of the bullhead. Looking over at Glynda he nodded and she gave the signal for them to jump. Starting with Ozpin they followed his lead and jumped from the bullhead and free fell to the forest floor. After the last of them had left Glynda shut the door and turned to the pilot.

"You're not going?" he asked.

"No, I was just hear to shake them up and make sure Ozpin didn't say too much. Besides, you look like you could use some conversation on the way back." Taking the co-pilot seat she strapped in as he got settled and started the process of heading back to Beacon, deathly aware of the presence of Glynda.

*on the forest floor*

As the last member hit the floor he made a quick sweep of his surroundings then filled the empty position at the perimeter. Everything was quiet as each member scanned their respective areas two or three times. A sudden sound startled them and they spared a moment to glance at it but no one broke from positions. Cardin looked towards Ozpin, deferring to the experienced hunter, awaiting orders and he got a nod in return as Ozpin started off towards the objective. Cardin turn towards the next person to his left and noticed they were waiting for him, looking around they all were waiting on him so he slashed his hand forward and they all took off after Ozpin.

It was certainly a foreign experience to be going in ahead of the action for the team. They were more front lines or clean up, not this tactical investigative shit. The only reason they were there was a hunch that could easily be handled by a more experienced team of full hunters/huntress' or a school team more trained for this. Scowling at the bureaucratic bullshit they caught up with Ozpin and continued on towards the warehouse, were they all remember the hell that went down mere months ago.

After several miles of trekking through the forest they finally made it to the warehouse. It couldn't have gone much better than it did, but at every turn there seemed to be some natural element slowing them down. From overgrown flora to snakes, bees, and other manner of wildlife that was unhappy with the intruders pressense. Each encounter that slowed them down significantly Cardin got closer and closer to losing his cool, at the sight of their objective he seemed to calm down and gain a sharp focus.

Noticing that the door was ajar, Cardin looked at the door carefully as opened doors were one of two things, open invitations or no one was alive to close it. Thinking it over at who would be best Cardin chose to wave down Russel, Cardin pointed two fingers to his eyes then at the door. Nodding in understanding Russel closed his eyes for a second and when he opened them they glowed meaning he was using his semblance, after what seemed like an eternity he sliced his hand in a downward motion and Cardin repeated it to the rest of the team, following it up with him pointing towards Russel and again at the door. Once again nodding Russel took the toe of his boot and nudged the door open and proceeded into the building.

As the door swung open the smell hit them, gunfire and death. It hit the group like a freight train but they barely flinched as this wasn't the first time they had been privy to the smell. Looking down the hall Russel identified four doorways, meaning at least four rooms to be cleared.

"Russel, can you see any body hiding?" Cardin asked, never taking his eyes from down the hall.

"Negative, everything's FUBAR though."

"Alright, two teams sweep the rooms.." Cardin turned to look at Ozpin but he was there. 'Whatever, we have our mission.' Cardin turned back with a scowl on his face. Making his way into the building he saw that Russel and Dove were clearing the computer room on right which left the room on the immediate right for Sky and himself. As they opened the door they saw a room with broken test tubes, books that had been charred by a fire, cabinet doors blow off their hinges. The room was a complete mess, no sign of blood or any hastily cleaned spots but they still made an effort to look over everything. Every book they picked up fell to ashes and they had to watch their step for all the broken glass. Having searched the small room but finding nothing they agreed to move on. They had a repeat of this three more times and by the end Cardin was slowly losing his cool. They made it back out into the hall where they met up with Russel and Dove then proceeded down the hallway.

"Computer room was clear, everything broken, busted, or burnt to a crisp. No way to salvage anything in their for anything close to resembling intel." Dove told Cardin. Nodding they all made their way down the hall to the next set of doors. "Same as last time?" Cardin nodded and they went in to find a huge library. Bookshelves that once held hundred of books were now either ash or toppled over as if someone was looking for something.

'This wasn't like this when we were here. The whole place looked pristine and functional but now its like a bomb went off in every room.' Dove carefully surveyed the room after Russel had confirmed no one was hiding beneath any of the ashes. 'This room is just as devoid as the last of any clean spots, I doubt we will find anything.' They searched for ten more minutes among the ashes but found nothing else. Turning away Russel and Dove both left the once beautiful library.

This trend was the same for Cardin and Sky as well, it seemed as though someone had come back and torched any and all evidence of what went on there. The team met back up outside their respective rooms and looked down what little of the hall was left only to find Ozpin standing there with a stern look on his face.

'We fucked up this time.'  
'Did we miss something?'  
'Is this a test, did we fail?'  
'Where the fuck have you been?!'

The team had varying thoughts on the matter but remained silent, instead Ozpin broke the silence. "Found something you might remember below," Turning around to head down the stairs, he turned his gaze back towards them. "For those without the stomach for this I highly suggest you make our exfil a priority." No emotion could be seen on his face but the meaning was clear in his words. I don't need a weak team with me.

Continuing down the stairs the group made their way down the narrow space, the putrid smell of decaying bodies was everywhere and growing stronger. 'The one place that need the torching didn't get it, of course.' Dove kept his thoughts to himself but was pretty sure they all thought the same thing, all except Cardin that is. 'Fucking bullshit, why are we even here looking over this garbage fire. Not like we'll find anything that's of use to anyone. Should just bomb this place clean off the map for what happened to Yang and Jaune.' Wearing his traditional scowl he continued with his team down the stairs.

As they continued down the long stairway, a soft but irritating noise starting to fill the air. As they got further down a bright light shone through the darkness. The light grew in size as they continued down, signalling the end to this deary hallway and maybe something that wasn't burnt to a crisp. As they exited the stairway they were met with a large wall on the other end of the room that was bricked off but connected to another, much larger, bricked off part of the room. On the walls hung various instruments, most of which no one wants to speculate what they might be used for.

'This is it. The room where Yang and Jaune were tortured.'  
'Those tools are dirty, I don't want to guess how many times they've been used.'  
'What is that smaller portioned off part of the room I wonder.'

Again the team was filled with question but none were actually said. Instead they looked around to try to ascertain the source of the incessant clicking. Cardin signaled for the team to split up and look around and Dove, being curious about the smaller room, went to investigate the corner. He found a solid brick wall. No faults in the masonry, no chips indicating outside attempts to get in, nothing. Going around the room he spotted cell doors with small slits built into them. More than likely for food and to see into the cell. 'Absolutely disgusting, I don't want to think about how many times these cells were used.' He thought as he caught a whiff of the air from inside. 'Enough to leave a terrible order that's for sure.' Dove quickly closed the small doors and looked down the row, there must have been at least 10 cells and judging from the side view of the bricks perhaps two cells deep. A total of twenty prisoners if they used them for one person. No guarantees of that though.

Cardin was on the other end of the room looking through storage containers. So far it was all empty crates that had been damaged or the contents were burnt beyond recognition. Same as everything upstairs making him wonder who torched everything and with what. Suddenly Dove turned and started looking everywhere and finally focusing on the floor.

"Contact below us, they're alone, can't tell what they're doing." Dove said At that moment Ozpin entered the larger of the two rooms. As the team follow they were met with a familiar but horrific sight. The room was covered in blood, tiles destroyed, the bodies that littered the floor last time were gone so someone had cleaned up but either failed to or didn't care enough to clean the blood. There was also a trap door with dried blood on one side that was open and leading down.

Ozpin waved for everyone to stay silent as he approached the door. He looked down and grabbed the ladder and proceeded down, stopping halfway before getting past the trap door he said in a hushed voice.

"Its narrow, when you climb down do so fast so we can get the jump on whoever it is. Dove, you stay up here with Sky and Russel and keep this room secured. Cardin with me." Finishing his sentence he began to start down as Cardin started to protest.

"Pro-.."

"Shut up! Were in the field so do what I say Cardin. I'll read any complaints in your report afterwards." With that he started back down the ladder rapidly. Cardin grumbled and followed, knowing better than to disobey Ozpin's orders. They both slide down the ladder and continued this for a full three minutes. Once they got to the bottom they jump off and drew their weapons, looking around the stark white and surprising cold room the found it was filled with computers. The tapping of keys was clearly coming from here, as they looked around the room they saw the culprit was a male, wearing a white tunic with the white fang symbol on it. As he laid eyes on Ozpin and Cardin his eyes went wide and he ducked under the computers.

"Dont hurt me please! I'm just here erasing the computers!" He called out.

Ozpin and Cardin were stunned into silence as they were rooted to the spot. Looking at each other they lowered their weapons.

"Come on out, and explain yourself. What exactly are you erasing?" Ozpin spoke up, still skeptical of the situation they were presented.

"I heard what went on down here, I was attached to the unit here. Im brand new and sign up to torture and cut off limbs of people! I ran away when the shooting started months ago and came back and started destroying everything, this is by far the hardest thing to get rid of but not impossible." he said. Clearly shaken his words lined up with what they found, though his story of being a coward and running away couldn't be proven.

"What all are you erasing on the computers? What all is stored in them?" Ozpin asked while Cardin just stood back, looking slightly dumbfounded,

* * *

Cardin and Ozpin had been down there around ten minutes when the team heard a noise from upstairs. Using his semblance Dove looked around the source of the noise but could only see faint outlines of one, maybe two people.

"Guys, we have contact above us. They're farther up so i can't get an exact fix on them. Maybe two or more people. Someone go down and tell Cardin." Dove said, never taking his eyes off the uninvited guests. Sky moved to the ladder and jumped down.

"Cardin, two plus contacts upstairs. Not sure if they're friendly but i doubt it since we never called for backup." Sky informed him as Ozpin turned towards Sky.

"Could you tell who they were?" Ozpin asked sternly

"No, to far away for Dove to get a clear read on them."

"We have to get as much information as possible. You, did you happen to make a copy of the hard drives before erasing anything?' Ozpin said now looking slightly worried.

"Of course, i've got them on me."

"Good. Cardin, wire up some explosives and blow this room to hell. Grab those copies and let us get moving, well have ten minutes to get clear before this place is a crater." Ozpin started back up the ladder and Cardin got to work on the explosives.

As Ozpin reached the top of the ladder he looked around and saw Russel on one side of the doorway and Dove staring intently above them.

"Any change Dove?"

"Yeah, they've gotten closer and I can tell there's only three of them, don't look to be heavily armed or armored so that rules out troops on either side. They're look like they're searching for something. Going room by room and not happen with what they're finding." Dove said still tracking the movements of the group.

"Alright well were stuck, we need to defend this location until we find a way out. Any ideas from our new friend?" Ozpin turned to the "new friend" in question.

"Well there's a small escape shaft on the other side of the room, big enough if we go one at a time. It'll lead us to the surface but we're dead if were caught in there." He said.

"Ok, escape shaft it is. You go first and wait for us in cover. We have to get you back to Beacon." Ozpin moved to the wall he indicated and opened the door. Just as the grunt was in the tunnel the main door opened and Ozpin shut the trap door quickly.

"So, I come here because the white fang tell me a the daughter of a person of a Maiden is here but I find a ragtag team of huntsman, and…..Professor Ozpin. Oh how i've waited for this. Mercury, Emerald, you two deal with those four, Ozpin's mine." Cinder said as she formed a sword of flame.

* * *

As he emerged from the tunnel and closed the door he looked around, not seeing anyone he ran into the heavily wooded area not far away. He settled into his spot just as an explosion shook the earth and the visible building exploded outwards.

A:N A bit longer than normal but as always I hit a streak and went with it. Review if it so pleases you as any ideas, comments or suggestions are all read and taken into account in the future chapters. As you can tell the story does shift between characters alot, there's a reason for it. Take care and i'll do my best to keep putting out chapters for you all!


	10. The things we go through chapter 10

**DISCLAIMER**

**I do not own RWBY,Blaisingfire(the original creator of this story) does not own RWBY. Rooster teeth productions does.**

*Beacon academy, one month before the raid with CRDL*

Yang and Jaune sat there in each others embrace. Jaunes face still stained with his tears and Yang comforting him as best she could. Suddenly Jaune shifted and startled Yang.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Yang asked as she carefully re-positioned herself as to not knock Jaune off balance.

"O-ok, still a little shocked at all of this is all. It's so much to take in you know?"

"Yeah, I hear you. The loss is hard, and getting used to it will be a challenge. It should be nothing for Jaune Arc, the man who somehow wormed his way into my heart." Yang sported a slight blush as she admitted, yet again, how Jaune won her over. Looking at him she slowly realized that losing his legs was a huge step back for him as a huntsman. 'I just lost my arm but he lost his ability to walk. The least I can do is help him through this.'

"Since we're here and this is probably the only alone time were going to have for the next several months. Anything specific you wanted to talk about? Or just pick a topic and go?" Jaune laughed at his his own dry humor but it seemed to work as it snapped Yang out of her thoughts.

"Well the biggest elephant in the room is bringing up the topic of you being the father of our child. That can wait till later though. I'd rather talk about what we are and where we go from here with our relationship." Yang said with her head hung down, mesmerized by the same tiles Jaune was entranced with previously.

"I already told you my feelings haven't changed, though going for walks will be more difficult now. I'd say what has happened will only strengthen us and our relationship." Jaune said the words more on autopilot than anything. His thoughts caught somewhere between crippling depression at losing his legs along with the his life as a huntsman and wanting to hunt down every last sick bastard of the white fang. He looked up at her to see that she was staring at the same spot he was moment earlier. "Yang, you with me?" He asked, dipping his head down to try to catch her eyesight.

Yang saw what he was doing and automatically reached out to steady Jaune as he was about to fall off the bench. "Please dont scare me like that, I do agree with you though. I want our relationship to keep going. Only you're going to have to be on my left from now on." Not even attempting to laugh as it stung to be reminded that she was down to one arm. Seeing him perk up brightened her mood significantly. "Come on, let me help you up and we'll walk around the grounds. Since we had visitors im sure the powers that be don't mind if we got some decent exercise and fresh air." A beaming smile on her face as she offered to help him with his wheelchair. Nodding head head he took her help, while it was a struggle they did manage to get him comfortable and moving. Opening the double doors they were greeted by none other than Professor Goodwitch, they both went pale as her coffee cup she was holding broke.

*with RWB, across campus*

Ruby was staring out a window, wondering and worried about her sister as she was pelted with a pillow from an annoyed teammate. Nearly falling out of the window she glared at the 'ice princess' as she called her, but before she could say anything they were all startled by the booming voice of Glynda Goodwitch.

"GET BACK IN YOUR ROOM BEFORE I CALL SECURITY TO STRAP YOU BOTH DOWN TO THE BED!"

* * *

After two weeks of being restricted in the hospital room, they finally got permission from Goodwitch to walk around the grounds, albeit highly supervised. Although they were watched for their own safety, still getting used to missing limbs, they had a great time just being with each other. It seemed like they were only truly happy together, when they were with their teams or trying to focus on other activities they just couldn't. They were off in another world. At one point Ruby caught Yang huddled in a corner crying, cradling her stump and doubled over in the corner. Pyrrha reported the same with Jaune, unless he was with Yang he just stayed in bed all the time. Unwilling to attempt to interact with anybody.

* * *

Ironwood witnessed all of this. He wasn't at Beacon anymore as he had an army to run and the surgeries were successful. He turned away from his data pad that was streaming Beacons footage of Yang and Jaune, courtesy of Ozpin. James looked down at the massive amount of papers in front of him, heaving a sigh of frustration at his dilemma. It's barely been a month and already Ozpin wants to have Jaune and Yang outfitted with tech that isn't even out of the drawing phase! Not only that they weren't recovered enough to deal with the shock of undergoing yet another surgery. Shaking his head he pushed the button on his intercom.

"Yes, General, how may I help you?" His assistant replied.

'Such an upstanding soldier, always dutiful and never hesitates to respond to orders. If only he's grow a backbone on some issues.' "Yes if like a cup of coffee if it's not a problem." Trying to keep any annoyance out of his voice, not wanting to bother his subordinate with his problem.

"Right away sir, just finished a pot." came the overly cheerful reply.

'If I didn't know better I swear he has gotten used to his desk job. Maybe I should rotate him out.' Ironwood was interrupted from his thoughts as the private knocked on the door and James signalled him in. Setting down the coffee then promptly leaving Ironwood took a sip of the fresh coffee. 'Then again, if have to teach some else how yo make good coffee. The struggles of generals.' turning back to his paperwork he called in his best scientific personnel.

* * *

Over the next couple of weeks this trend continued. Together they were fine and happy but separated they were mostly beyond hope. Pyrrha and Ruby of course didn't give up hope and wore themselves out day after day just talking to them. It didn't matter about what, just talking to them. One day Pyrrha was getting back to the dorm and started talking to Jaune as she had been for three months.

"Jaune, Im back. We wer-..." she started before Jaune interrupted her

"I don't care Pyrrha, I don't like hearing about everyone's day knowing I can never join them again. I can't go on walks or run or train with you guys. My life as a huntsman is over!" Jaune choked back a sob and didn't face Pyrrha, until she had enough and forcefully turned him over to face her.

"Now listen, Ren and Nora are both worried about you. They want to be here for you but they are too scared to face you because you've been giving everyone the cold shoulder. I'm just here to be as good a friend to you as you have to me in the past. Snap out of this, you have friends here to support you and help you but refusing their help is just going to drive this team and our friendship apart. Now get ahold of yourself were going out." She stood up and got his wheelchair and tried to help him up. After some light resistance he finally caved and went with Pyrrha.

"Pyrrha where are we-"

"Shh, we're almost there" Pyrrha simple said, not offering an explanation as to why he was drug out of bed. Secretly happy that he was though. Maybe he would make more of an effort to talk to his team. He didn't want them to find another leader or worse yet, get rid of him as a friend. Continuing down the path he looked up to see a single bullhead coming towards them, probably some high ranking dignitary that had nothing to do with him.

"That bullhead is carrying important cargo for you Jaune, that's why it was so important to get you out of bed today." Pyrrha informed him but kept her face stoic. It made Jaune shiver, what could make Pyrrha, the normal warm smile and laughing girl, be so formal? His question was answer as the bullhead landed and the rear ramp dropped down but before he could see anything RWBY had joined them. Weiss being up front with the same stoic face as Pyrrha. Clearly this was important but for whom?

"WHERE IS HE?"

Jaune paled and everyone turned to look at him as he suddenly cowered behind everybody.

"Jaune what's wrong?" Blake asked looking worried when her ears twitched and she suddenly shoved her team down.

As Blake was busy protecting her team someone charged off the bullhead straight at the group and stopped just short of them.

The woman had blonde shoulder length hair and blue eyes, stood at about Yangs height. Anger was in her eyes as the dust cloud dissipated from where she had raced off the bullhead. She wore a *mostly* modest outfit that consisted of simple jeans, a high-end designer shirt, sunglasses and running tennis shoes. Scanning the crowd for her son, her eyes grew more angry with each second that passed. Finally her eyes landed on Jaune just as the rest of the people finished disembarking. She feel to her knees and tears fell from her eyes in solid streams as seven other girls rushed over. Three stopped at the older woman and tried to console her while three others introduced themselves to the members of the group, those that were not dusting themselves off. The final woman slowly walked over towards Jaune, tears forming in her eyes as she tried her best to remain upright. She reached out to Jaune and fell to her knees. Pyrrha helped Jaune get back up headed over to the closest woman first.

"Get up Joan, I'd pick you up but i'd have a problem." Seeing his family fall apart like this was understandable but it just fueled Jaunes anger to get back at the bastards who did this in the first place. Now he was the victim and his family was hurting because of it. He would make this right.

"Everyone, I just got scratched is all. I'll get better and I'll get the bastards that did this to me and Yang." Hearing her name shocked her out of silence as everyone heard an audible *eep*. Turning to her Jaune's mother picked herself up and walked over to Yang.

"You poor girl, I am so sorry for what happened. If there's anything you need, anything at all, please don't hesitate to ask." Jaune's mother said, wrapping her arms around Yang in a tight hug.

"Thank you ma'am, Ill be sure to keep that in mind." She softly smiled and returned the hug as best she could.

Looking over at her teammates, specifically Ruby who looked worried as usual; then at JNPR, she walked over to Jaune and whispered in his ear. When she was finished he nodded his head and they both headed over to Jaunes father. After speaking with he his face fell at what was said, after a few moments he stood up straight and nodded his head. Turning back and walking into the bullhead Yang and Jaune made their way back towards the large group.

"What did you say to him? I've never seen your father like that before." His mother asked understandably worried.

"Nothing to worry about mom, we just brought him up to speed on our situation. Speaking of, Yang and myself agreed that the first order of business is to tell the story. Let's head somewhere more comfortable, preferably with food." Jaune had a genuine smile on for the first time in a while.

*Beacon mess hall*

As the group sat down in the empty cafeteria they saw the bullhead the family arrive on take off. Checking her scroll Jaunes mother calmed down quite a bit after reading the message.

"Not to worry, youre father is just leaving momentarily to conduct some business so we have a couple days to ourselves in Vale." She smiled warmly at her daughters. They shared a sigh of relief while the Beacon students all looked at each other and wondered where they were going to stay. "If you all are worried about where we will stay, don't fret. We had already made plans to visit a few days and booked a hotel near here. Now Jaune, about this story?"

"Before we get into all that let's get some food, I'm starving!" Jaune said right at the moment Pyrrha, Nora, Blake and four of Jaune's sisters brought over all the food. They all ate their food and Jaune and Yang waited to tell the later parts of the story till after eating.

"So, it's late and after the fact but Yang and I do have something we would like to tell you. Keep in mind this is after the fact but our feelings haven't changed. Before the incident, Yang was pregnant. She was carrying our child." Jaune was going to keep talking but everyone chose this moment to either go wide-eyed, choke on their food, spit up their drink, or run over to congratulate him. As Jaune was swarmed by his family, the members of RWBY and JNPR all said their congratulations but went to console Yang as she started crying but tried her best to keep a smile on.

"Yang, dear. What's the matter?" Jaune's mother noticed Yang was crying and struggling to keep her emotions in check.

"Well, Jaune did say it was after the fact. I think everyone should sit down for this. What i'm about to tell you isn't going to be pleasant. Also I have a question Mrs. Arc."

"Oh please, my name is Jonquil dear." She smiled happily

"Jonquil, thank you." Yang started, silencing the group as Jaunes face darkened. Over the next several hours Yang recounted in horrific detail her side of the story and how she lost the baby, along with her ability to have child. RWB and NPR both stayed silent as the story went on and Jaune's mother and sisters all had tears streaming down their faces, all except Jessica and Jemima.

"I'm going to murder them, i'm going to gut them and hang them by their own entrails." Jessica's face burning hot enough even Yang moved a few seats away.

"Point us at them little brother, we'll make sure they know never to mess with an Arc again." Jemima placed a protective hand on her baby brother's head.

"Guys, you all seriously scare me when you're like this. Besides we don't have any leads on the people who did this. All we can say for certain is that the fang kidnapped us and they knew who we were and did not care." Shocked at this Jessica and Jemima looked at each other and pulled out their scrolls.

"You got it as well then?"  
"Yup"  
"Mom, baby brother, sisters, huntress' we just got orders back to Atlas. Emergency recall from General Ironwood himself. Jaune, Yang, I'd like you both to accompany us. With your permission of course Assist Headmaster Goodwitch." Jessica turned to face Glynda, who had been there the whole time.

"Jessica Arc, you're as perceptive as ever I see." Glynda smiled, remembering how wonderful a student she was.

"Not nearly as good as I could be, I just noticed you about five minutes ago. So what's your answer?"

"Normally Professor Ozpin would make these decisions but luckily I already know whats going on. They're free to go, No the rest of you children can not join them. Classes for you all will resume next week and Miss Xiao Long and Mr. Arc will be away for some time. I'll talk to you all more regarding your class' after their departure." Glynda finished off strenly and turned to walk away. "Take care of them Jessica, if they end up hurt again i'll personally come for you." Glynda gave a slight wave as she left the cafeteria. Jessica paled at this and Jaune mentally saved the information for the next time she wanted to tease him.

"Shall we get going them? General Ironwood isn't one to be kept waiting." Jessica said as she punch in some commands on her scroll and a green light lit up.

"Ok, but why are Yang and myself going?" Jaune asked as he scooted closer to Yang, putting a protective arm around her.

"General Ironwood wants a word with the two of you, he hasn't told us any more than that." Jessica was clearly all business at this point. "Mother, please take care, Beacon is one of the safest places but if the fang are bold enough to kidnap training huntsman, and an Arc at that, you can't be too careful. Sisters, take care of mom and our new friends while were gone ok?" She and Jemima took the time to give every member of her family a hug. As The four walked back where they first met Jaune spoke up.

"Uh, Jessica, we don't exactly have a fast ride to Atlas here at Beacon."

"Gotta think outside the box little brother, were high ranking Atlesian military specialists. How do we usually get around?" Before Jaune could speak up a gust of wind overtook them as Jaune was almost knocked back with Jemima holding his chair and Yang throwing up her arm to protect her face. A sleek and very unusual ship was above them roughly half the size of the bullhead, considering its speed it was exceptionally quiet. The whole ship was shaped in a rough diamond with an elongated front. As it came in two parts of the fuselage became detached at the front and moved outwards making the ship look like the head of a trident spear. As it landed a front facing ramp dropped down.

"Creatively named the trident. Fastest, quietest, and most top secret ship in the Atlesian fleet. She's not even supposed to exist for another five years but I manage to convince the General to lend us this beauty for the occasion." Jessica turned to Yang and Jaune at their awestruck expressions. "Come on you two, that isn't even the best part." As she started towards the ship Yang and Jaune quickly followed as Jemima sighed.

"Pulling this out of testing for a simple pickup? I dread the paperwork behind it." Jemima slowly made her way towards the ship, not entirely trusting the pilot. 'I wonder who they chose for this?'

Just as they left the docking platform an explosion caught everyone's attention. They all looked towards the pillar of smoke rising in the air as Yang and Jaune went wide eyed.

'That's the building we were held at.'

A/N: Id say not to expect chapters this long all the time but i feel a fire burning in me that demands me to write. These chapters are getting HUGE so expect them to be broke up more. Please enjoy and review, I thoroughly enjoy hear any and all feedback as it may lead to future ideas for the plot. Also I do read each and every review and do my best to accommodate any requests. One last thing, 49 followers and growing?! That is amazing and its the best feeling ever, thank you all!


	11. The things we go through chapter 11

**DISCLAIMER**

**I do not own RWBY,Blaisingfire(the original creator of this story) does not own RWBY. Rooster teeth productions does.**

AI voice

"Speech"

'Thoughts or quotations in speech'

Cruising through the air on folded wings, all that could be heard was a faint whistle of the wind. Passerby below didn't even notice as they went about their shopping or casual walks. If anyone had bothered to look up all they would have saw was a oh-so-faint exhaust trail that could be mistaken for high clouds.

"Alright, test of the optical stealth was great, exhaust trail left a little to be desired but I doubt we left more than fumes behind. Too bad we can't test the electronic stealth huh?" Jessica said with a hint of disappointment in her voice.

Rolling her eyes she pushed a few buttons and joined the rest in the cramped space. "Leave the testing for the geeks back at R&D, I'm amazed were still airborne honestly. Thing's not even supposed to be off the drawing board but here it is flying!" Jemima waved over her shoulder from the center console.

"Yeah, but think of the potential! This brings a whole new meaning to rapid deployment or high speed infiltration." Jessica's eyes went wide, staring off into space.

" _If you will excuse me Ladies, we are nearing military airspace._ " A distinctly computer voice spoke up.

Both of the sisters along with Yang and Jaune, who had been sitting in the back minding their own business, looked around.

"I'm not crazy, someone just talked. Is this thing hooked up to command and someone's watching us?" Jemima spoke up, immediately going on edge about being spied upon.

" _No, 'this thing' is not hooked up to command, 'this thing' is carrying your presumptuous butts to command where General Ironwood is patiently waiting._ " With more than a little bite in her voice to scare everyone she pulled up a projection of the general in his office.

"Ah, Specialists. Good to see she arrived in one piece. I do hope she is making the ride as smooth as possible?" James said cocking his eyebrow, clearly a question more than a statement.

" _Of course sir! I would never dream of mishandling precious cargo._ " The voice chirped up, decidedly more upbeat and courteous towards the general.

"Speaking of; Yang, Jaune, are you with us?"

Jaune wheeled the both of them over to save space and time. "Yes general, we're here. Also very confused as to why." Jaune spoke up before Yang could.

"Thats easy to answer but not over an open comm link. I don't care how well tested it is, no offense intended EDI."

" _None taken general, according to some, that you've kept in the dark, I'm not even supposed to be off the drawing board._ " A clear jab at Jemima who promptly blushed realizing she had be overheard the entire time.

Chuckling to himself, Ironwood continued. "I see, we can discuss this more once you've arrived. Specialists, please ensure Yang and Jaune are both brought straight to my office, no detours, no stops anywhere and no sight-seeing. Is that understood?"

"Loud and clear sir!" Both specialists spoke up and saluted.

" _If I had eyes I would be rolling them right now, general were approaching fast. ETA is five minutes._ "

*at the landing pad*

Yang was pushing Jaune in his chair as they were both led by Jessica and Jemima. Jaune's older sisters ignored the questioning stares from everyone they passed, while Jaune tried shrinking down in his chair to avoid any unnecessary attention.

"Sit up straight Jaune, it's unbecoming of an Arc to slouch in such a manner. It's only natural that they stare anyways, they're curious since they rarely see civilians in here." Halting their advance suddenly, Jemima covered her ears to the confusion of Yang and Jaune. "GET BACK TO WORK AND QUIT THE STARING!" Scaring everyone in the immediate vicinity back to work Jessica smirked and they resumed the walk to Ironwood. "Chop chop, they won't stay that way for long you two." Jessica looked back over her shoulder to see yang still dazed with Jaune egging her on to move.

"Jaune, try not to let her attitude rattle you to much, or the stares from everyone. She's just real strict when we're here is all, very by-the-book. Just give me a signal if it's all too much for you ok?" Jemima placed a reassuring hand on Jaunes shoulder as they walked behind Jessica.

It was another ten minutes of walking before finally getting to Ironwoods office. When they go to the huge double doors Jessica was talking to a very nervous private who could complete a sentence for some reason.

"Hey, what's your name?" Jaune asked, used to his sister intimating people and knowing he would get a tongue lashing later.

"Private Nomole. You must be Jaune and Yang correct?"

"Yes, we're sort of in a hurry, can you let us in or let the general know where here?" Leaning in where his sister couldn't hear he whispered. "Listening, I know Jessica is scary as hell. I grew up with her but do me a solid and I'll make it worth your while, I've got some pull with her after all." Nodding his head and avoiding smirking to much, Nomole pressed a button and announced the group.

"What did you say to him?" Jessica questioned with a glare at her little brother for making it look so easy.

"Nothing, we can talk about it later after the meeting with your boss. Unless you want him knowing you couldn't do something so simple as get a door open?" At this Jessica blush and turned away from Jaune. A victory smirk plastered on his face.

"Teasing her like that is not wise little brother, you know this better than anyone." Jemima said worried for his safety.

"Gotta agree Jaune, not the best move to pissed off the woman who could kill us all with just her hands." Yang whispered in his ear

"Trust me, I'm fine but I appreciate the concern. Now I believe we have a general to speak with?" Jaune said glancing towards Jemima who had already switched to her soldier face.

"Come in, we dont have alot of time before my next meeting. Jessica, Jemima, You both are dismissed for now please wait outside." Ironwood said not giving more than a passing glance up from his paper.

Both sisters shared a worried look but saluted and went back out the doors, closing them on their way out.

"Good, not that I don't appreciate their counsel from time to time but concerning family I already know what they will say. Winter, come on out." Ironwood said as Winter Schnee stepped out from the shadows.

"Yang Xiao Long, Jaune Arc, a pleasure to meet you. My condolences for what you suffered through." Winter simple stated not giving away any emotion.

'Typical Schnee, emotionless on the outside.' Yang had a scowl on her face at the glaring similarities between Winter and her sister. "Thanks."

"General, as you are busy, I'm sure you want to move this along. We both have teams waiting for us as well." Jaune adopted the face his sisters had, being around high-profile people most of your life he picked up some do's and don'ts of how to talk. Some, but not all.

"Quite right Mr. Arc, but lets not forget whos bill your on shall we?" Looking up from his papers to fix Jaune with a stare to crumple brick Jaune shrank a bit in his chair. Setting down the paperwork he got up and walked around to the pair. "Yang, I've seen your skills. You're an exceptional close combat fighter and give your enemies no leeway in battle. However you let your temper control you and you've faced an enemy who bested you twice because of it." Ignoring the scathing glare he turned to Jaune, "You're a brilliant tactician but lack battle experience necessary to hash out orders despite them being unpopular at times." Turning his head away from the general only confirming what he said. "Think you can work with them Winter?" Still looking at Yang and Jaune, Ironwood sat there on his desk.

"Given how they are. No, they can't function as anything more than advisors and I'd be loathe to take advice from people who lack backbone in the heat of battle." Standing in the back fixing her icy gaze on Jaune as every word seemed to lash at him like a bullwhip.

"Stop it! We get it were not the best but we're still training, on top of that we were ambushed and butchered! You seriously can't expect a couple of kids to have the same experience as Ice Queen over there when shes got years of experience on us," Turning to Winter, Yang shot a stare at her, "It's amazing that the Atlesian military has such weathered specialists, maybe the general should clean up the ranks a bit?" At Yangs words Winter's arm twitched but otherwise remained rooted to the spot.

"Stay calm Winter," Turning his approving gaze back at Yang. "Seems you can turn your temper to your advantage when the occasion calls. Good, you'll need it. For this next part I need both of you to give your consent. Do not take what I offer lightly."

"Sir, you don't mean that?" Winter was startled by what the general was proposing, if she was right.

"Yes, that, now be quite. Yang, Jaune, will you trust me?" Ironwood fixed his gaze once again on the pair of young hunters.

Looking at each other a hurricane of emotions ran through them both.  
'What does Winter mean?'  
'Why does he need our consent?'  
'What does he have planned that we need to trust him?'  
'Will we be ok?'  
All this happening in a split second and finally Jaune spoke up. "Can we think on it General? This sounds like a big decision."

With a great sigh Ironwood hung his head. "Under normal circumstances, yes I'd allow that. However these aren't normal at all, I need your answer before you leave this room."

Shocked at this Yang snaked her hand down to Jaunes and squeezed it tightly, getting the message Jaune perked up.

"Can you help us bring the fight to the Fang bastards who did this?"

"I guarantee that they will be first on your list. If you're decided I need you both to sign these papers." Walking behind his desk he took out two identical forms with the words MEDICAL RELEASE in bold letters across the top. Yang wheeled Jaune closer to the desk so they could both read over them. It was typical medical and legal jargon that they both barely understood. What caught their attention was the robotics section.

"General can I ask what this is about?" Jaune pointed to the section in question.

"That's why we need you to volunteer, Its an experimental procedure to give you two back your limbs." Ironwood and Winter both watched their reactions closely and almost missed them both signing the papers without question.

"Winter, take these and get copies to Headmaster Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch." Pressing the button on his intercom, "Jessica, Jemima, please come back in." As the doors opened the sisters walked in the room, Ironwood spoke to them both. "Please take Yang and Jaune here to the designated rooms on these keys, they'll be staying a while." Shocked but offering no resistance, the sisters took the two young hunters away. "So Winter, Think you'll be able to train them now?" Ironwood said with a smirk that was hidden behind his steepled fingers.

On rare occasions Winter showed her sister love, such as when they were alone for tea. She could count on one hand how many times she smiled openly. This would go down in history as the one time Winter actually laughed. "Yes sir, I do believe I can. I hope they're ready. I won't go easy on them. Do you need me for anything else general?"

Shaking his head he replied, "No, you're dismissed Winter. Please remember that the procedure is experimental and they may have unknown complications. Nothing you aren't trained to handle though." Turning on her heel she went out the double doors and made sure to shut them on her way out.

'This is going to be fun.' Winter held herself, and her emotions, in check as she passed a group of cowering PFC's in the hall.

* * *

Pitch black smoke formed a pillar reaching towards the sky. Seemingly never ending its grasp was everywhere. Hands groped through the smog and was soon followed by a white tunic and mask. Stopping suddenly his hands went to his side to try and staunch the blood coming from his side. Giving up on that task he took off his tunic and shirt underneath and ripped several strips, he tied them together and proceeded to wrap his wound as best he could. It hurt his ribs with how tight he made it but no excess blood came through, problem one solved. Problem two was the hard drive was fried when he rolled out of the way of a collapsing tree bent on ending his life prematurely. Keeping the parts just in case he proceeded to try and find his way through the never ending smoke. Tripping over something a sharp crack could be heard followed quickly by an ear splitting scream. As luck would have it he tripped over broken concrete and the resulting fall had broken his nose. He rebounded and picked himself up only to trip over the same piece of debris and break his arm on his next trip downwards. Resolving to lay there for a bit till the pain calmed down his eyes grew heavy. Deciding that a quick nap wouldn't hurt anything he closed his eyes and drifted off.

Blasting away the debris was child's play, whoever had set the bombs was going to pay dearly. Cinder was more than unhappy. First they had to go to a white fang base were a high profile officer was killed by none other than James Ironwood himself. Then another officer foolish enough to go in undermanned ended up getting his whole squad killed BY THE SAME PEOPLE. Once she got there everything had been torched beyond all sense, nothing was left to spare. Reaching the final step downstairs she comes face to face with three beacons students, all of whom she had no data on, and one Professor Ozpin. Her blood started to immediately boil as she remembered her masters orders. 'Bring Ozpin to me, he'll fight so you'll have to beat him. As long as he can still see I don't care what you do just bring him to me.' Seemed simple enough. After all she had the powers of one of the legendary Maidens! What she did not account for was them planting bombs, where those bombs were she didn't know, or care. The building, and anything incriminating, were gone now.

"Mercury, keep your eyes open, I don't need you falling and break anything because you didn't pay attention." She snapped in frustration. This whole thing was beneath her, honestly. She wasn't one to go against Salem though. She wished Neo were here, she'd be useful in hiding their presence so no one could ambush them as she was sure the explosion gathered some attention and someone would come to investigate shortly. As if on cue, Cinder felt a tap on her shoulder and a reassuring hand on her arm, slightly tugging. Looking up she saw none other than Neo, worriedly looking at her over and tugged again at her arm.

"Ok, ok we're going. Mercury, Emerald, follow me closely and don't fall behind." Following the multicolored girl they soon made their way out of the smoke several minutes later. "Thank you Neo, Id ask how you knew where I was but I frankly don't care." Checking herself over she had multiple cuts and bruises. Closing her eyes and concentrating her aura, her wounds healed and her bruises faded away. Opening her eyes and checking again she frowned. Tears in her clothes still evident she looked over to Mercury and Emerald. Neither had any sort of cut, bruise, or any blemish whatsoever. Turning back to Neo she waved her on as to say 'lead the way' but stopped short. On her left was the body of a white fang member, upon closer inspection he had been bleeding heavily on his side and his nose and arm were both bent at unnatural angles. He wasn't breathing, losing interest fast she waved Neo on who promptly used her semblance to teleport the group away.

* _underground_ *

Opening his eyes he immediately shut them as they started burning. Feeling his way around he hit his fingers several times on debris but dared not open his eyes.

"Hey, anyone else here? Sound off guys." Cardin said, once again opening his eyes he could barely hold them open long enough to look around. Not much could be seen as the smoke from falling concrete and the bombs going off filled the air. 'How did we survive this close to the explosion?'

"Sky, good."

"Dove, good."

"Russel, good. Ozpin's down."

'Fuck, not good, not good not good. Calm down Cardin, gotta think. Everyone's alive, maybe, we need to find that trap door and see if we can't get out.' "Russel, look around is anyone pinned or hurt?" Cardin prayed that everyone was able to move. Not that it would do much good in this smoke.

"Sorry Cardin, I can look but it'll be a minute. This smoke is killing my eyes." Russel said avoiding rubbing his eyes as tears streamed down his face.

"Make it quick, we need to find that exit and get outta here." Cardin quickly shut his mouth as an obscure piece of information found its way to the front of his thinking. 'When you're trapped and you don't know if there's an escape, move as little as possible and avoid talking as your oxygen will run out without a fresh source.' Apparently the others realized this fact faster than him as little to no noise was being made. After several long minutes of waiting Russel finally spoke up.

"Cardin, about ten meters behind you. The exit should be there, be careful as there's a lot of debris in the way. The smoke is cleared up some so it's gotta be open." Russel coughed and fell silent as to not use up the remaining oxygen.

Moving slowly so he didn't break anything the task was extremely slow. Inch by inch Cardin crawled over debris while squinting his eyes to partially see. The smoke was still thick and burned but tolerable. At one point Cardin felt something tug at his pants and he felt it was rather sharp and on his leg. Looking back he saw it was a piece of rebar that had a hold of his pants, pulling out his scroll he checked everyone's aura levels. Closing his eyes in frustration as all the levels were black. Deja vu set in as the scene set up in his mind. Looking at his current predicament he could push forward and potentially tear his pants, and his leg, or try to work his way free. As he started to shift his weight gravity made the decision for him and moved some loose debris causing him to fall and the rebar to dig into his leg, screaming out in agony.

Sky immediately opened his eyes to see what happened and flinched hard. Knowing Cardin was in pain he checked the aura levels only to see what Cardin saw just a moment prior.

"Cardin don't move and make it worse, i'll come to you and help." Sky knew it was a bluff but he gambled that his leader did not have the brains to check their aura first.

"Don't try to fool me Sky, we've all got no aura, most you can do is go to the door." Cardin winced as he spoke and blood poured from his leg. Sky started moving against the constant protests of his leader, still carrying basic medical supplies he could hopefully treat it. As he near Cardin he saw the wound was too close but didn't hit the carotid artery.

"This is gonna pinch, you'll live though so try to keep it down." Pulling out some cloth, a small plastic bar and a bottle of liquid he popped the top on the bottle and smirked to himself then cringed at what was about to happen. Pouring the contents of the bottle on the open wound Cardin screamed out then passed out from the pain. 'Yeah, alcohol does that. Thankfully he's out for this next part.' Putting the cloth around Cardins leg and securing one side with the plastic bar he began to twist the bar around, drawing the cloth tighter until the blood flow stopped. Placing a bobby pin in the cloth to hold it tight he moved further on to the door, watching all the debris. Most of the smoke was clear and the door was ajar. Pushing on it the medic couldn't get a good angle on it.

"Dove, you hear me?"

"Yeah, let me guess. You can't get a good angle of the door."

"Nailed it, make your way over to me i've got an idea."

"Yeah, you always do." Chuckling lightly Dove moved himself to his stomach and started to crawl over to Sky, most of the debris was moved out of the path thanks to Sky's efforts. "Alright, now what?"

Pulling out a small vial Sky handed it to Dove. "Drink it, its experimental and shouldn't kill you. It's supposed to give you back a limited amount of aura." Not bothering to look at Dove as he didnt want to look the man in the eye.

"Wh-...Do-...I don't want to know the odds against me do I?" Dove said as he popped the cork on the small vial.

"Nope."

"You could have lied to me, you're bedside manner sucks ass." Breathing deep he inhaled the liquid he felt a warm quickly spread throughout his body and Sky checked his scroll. Dove was lucky, he only got about ten percent of his aura but it should be enough for a single blast at the door. "Alright, get back. If this goes sideways….it's been a pleasure fighting with you all."

As Dove charged up he aimed for the door he took off. Russel and Sky saw debris and smoke fill the air again and heard Dove screaming, then silence filled the room.

A/N: So this is chapter 11, I hope you enjoy it! Next chapter will be soon, there is a poll up to resolve an issue between Blaiseingfire and I. Two weeks and the poll will be closed! Vote quickly and cross your fingers!


	12. The things we go through chapter 12

The Things We Go Through

Chapter 12

Disclaimer: Neither Blaisingfire nor myself have ownership over RWBY

A whistle through the air and a sharp reverberating clang filled the area. Sparks showered down upon the two combatants, though they did little in the way of noticing. Pulling back and retreating to cover they put their swords away and changed mags in the rifles. One waited as a gentle breeze flitted his way and brought with it the soft scraps of boots against rocks and shrubbery. Pulling a mirror out of his pocket he peaked around the corners of the cover he was in and saw his opponent crawling towards him on his left flank. Natural instincts screamed at him to move away in the opposite direction but he remained still and tried to control his rapidly beating heart. They were so close now that any movement on his part would be giving his position away, not that it wasn't anyway. Flicking his eyes down he saw that his weapon was set on semi, looking back the enemy was gone. Searching from one spot to the other quickly he couldn't spot any movement. They were just gone, not even a whisper of sound to give a hint of their whereabouts. Slowly shifting forward and avoiding anything that might scratch his uniform he leaned out from his cover enough to shoulder the, now surprisingly heavy, rifle. Scanning the area, nothing moved. The plants swayed in the wind but nothing odd was happening, then a soft rustle and he trained his gun on a nearby shrub as green leaves exploded outwards and a rabbit darted from the bushes to a faraway place. His heart was beating a tattoo in his breastbone as he closed his eyes momentarily and when he opened them he felt the cold piercing of a barrel against the base of his skull.

"Never take your eyes off the enemy, the second you do your dead son."

A soft click and a hand showed itself from above his shoulder, turning in place he reached up and grabbed it. Keeping his weapon ready front, he was pulled to his feet.

"Next time, let's head back and grab chow."

"Yes sir."

"Hey, what'd I say about that shit? The names Buck."

* * *

In the mess hall, the two had returned from the field and grabbed a tray while getting in line. It wasn't terribly crowded but just enough to warrant some conversation, at least the rook thought so.

"Sir, why do they make us go out in the barren desert for training like that? We have holographic rooms that could easily do the same job."

Shaking his head Buck sighed and responded. "Because, while the holorooms offer a good refresher experience, there's no substitute for being out in the real world where nature can either aid or hinder you. A prime example was the rabbit that scared the piss outta you. Holorooms can't be unpredictable in that manner unless specifically programmed to do so. Nature doesn't care what you want, she just does what she feels like 99% of the time." The specialist motion for certain foods and politely declined others as he was explaining. "Let's grab a table, I'm starving."

"Yes, sir."

"Stop that."

Making their way to a table in the far corner Bucks eyes never stood still for very long, always looking at everything and still somehow managed to avoid people running into him that seemed almost on purpose. Sitting at the table Buck wasted little time in devouring his food, the new recruit said a soft prayer before tenderly eating his way through his meal. Noticing this Buck shrugged and said nothing.

'Everyone has their own thing, hopefully the field doesn't take that away from him.' eating the last of his bread he silently watched the room, not out of concern of an attack from anyone he called an ally, just out of habit. After waiting for nearly fifteen minutes he finally finished his food and Buck gathered his tray and made to leave.

"Best put a move on, next training is in an hour and you better not be late. I'll be waiting at the usual spot."

Buck leaving him behind at the table he sighed. For nearly two weeks straight he'd been subject to the 'torture' that was training with Buck and various members of his team. He relented that they were the best and hed learn well from them but there was absolutely no room for error. One small miscalculation and they pounced, even after waiting in a stalemate for seven hours, crouched in the same spot, he moved to get his leg more comfortable and he found himself face down in the dirt with a boot in his back.

"Almost a new record kid, another ten minutes and you probably could have had him." Soft, almost inaudible scratches from a pencil could be heard jotting notes down. "Pick yourself up and report back to base for debriefing, then chow and sleep. Were doing this again tomorrow till you beat one of us." Lifting his face up and spitting out a dirt clod he didn't know how he would have just beat his opponent by just sitting there!

"Bullshit! How is this teaching me anything, sir? Day after day I'm subject to fighting the best of the best. Me with little to no training, going up against battle hardened veterans and heroes who rescued Yang Xiao Long and Jaune Arc! This is fair, this isn't training its a refresher course for you guys!" Not knowing where this came from he didn't back down as Buck got in his face and stared him down but not breaking the gaze. Tilting his head Buck shouted to his partner.

"What you think Chemo? He pass?"

Smirking at the recruit the one known as Chemo answered, "Oh yeah, he's got balls. Let's see how long he'll keep'm." Chemo chuckled to himself and turned to walk away. "Good luck kid, you've just chosen the harder of the two paths before you."

"You heard him, head back to base and wait for my instructions." Turning to join Chemo he jogged over to his partner. "You think that he'll make it? Stuff like that is usually only a spurt of being driven over the edge too many times."

"Reminds me of someone." Letting his words hang in the air, Buck punched his arm.

"I got lucky, Captain Schnee kept pushing me." Bucks eyes going dark as he remembered the brutal training on his own time just to keep up with everyone else.

"I believe that my title is Specialist Schnee, Buck." Both Chemo and Buck froze solid, their eyes going wide with fear as slow, methodical steps approached them. "Though I suppose I was just a Captain back then. Still, it's rather rude to talk about me when you nearly ran me over just now." Standing behind the pair Winter smirked, "You can try that, but you won't get far. That I promise." Her icy words hung in the air as Buck and Chemo looked at each other. Chemos eyes pleaded with Buck to reconsider while Buck had a fire light under his feet as he made a mad dash down the hall. "You stay right there, I'll deal with you in a minute," Winter said cooly as a glyph formed behind her and she sped off towards a sprinting Buck. Ramming into him she pinned him to the ground and held him there as she summoned another glyph beneath the feet Chemo, who was slowly walking back.

As Buck was currently eating the freshly waxed floor, courtesy of the elbow in his back, he thought two things.

1) Why did he have to choose then to not pay attention to his surroundings?

2)Why, on Monty's green earth, did he run?

He tried to come up with an answer but blinding pain suddenly whited out his vision as Winter dug her elbow deeper into his back, just to the right of his spine.

"So, If you can explain to me in one sentence why running from me was a good idea I might just let you go." Winters cool eyes stared at the back of her favorite punching bag…..trainee.

A meer gasp for air was all Buck could do as Winter's elbow was dug, almost literally, into his lung.

"Yeah, see, I don't get it either." Winter kept her elbow in Buck as Chemo stepped up. "So, mind explaining why I have a new scuff mark on my boot Chemo?"

"Well, You see Specialist-" Chemo started but was interrupted by a Blonde mane of wild hair pushing another blonde confined to a wheelchair.

"Yo, Schnee. Ironwood said to find you and deliver a message before we went off to the medical wing." Yang stopped just short of the scene that was played out before her. Two soldiers were pinned by glyphs that were undoubtedly Schnees doing. One was pinned with Schnee's elbow and it looked painful as hell, if his grunts were anything to go by. A sharp inhale of breath and the glyphs went away as Winter picked herself up and brushed her coat of the dust.

"You two are dismissed. We'll continue this later." Turning to the two blondes she looked as calm and collected as ever. "What's this message you were sent to deliver Miss Xiao Long?"

"Ironwood said he needs to see you right away. That's all. We'll be on our way now." As Yang started to push Jaune, Winter stopped her by grabbing her arm.

"How much did you see?"

"Enough to compromise your position, unless its accepted to beat up people when you're not watching where you're going? We won't say anything, in return we don't want you going easy on us in training. But don't go overboard with it ok?" Winter glared at the smaller girl but noticed that Yang had a hand on Jaunes shoulder, almost protectively. Smirking to herself before framing her features again.

"Deal, best you hurry along. You've got a rough time ahead of you after all." Releasing Yang's arm, Winter folded her arms behind her back and slowly made her way towards Ironwood.

The blinding pain in his lungs gone he picked himself up just in time to see the blondes heading towards the medical wing while Winter was nowhere to be seen. Still fearful over being tackled again a friendly face made itself known.

"Hey, Buck, you alright?" More than a hint of concern in his voice at the rough treatment he just witnessed.

"Yeah, I might not breathe right for the next few days but nothing some drills shouldn't fix. We need to hurry, that little run-in with Schnee cost us and we have a rook to train." Buck dropped his head, The loss of both Meat and Ozone after going back through the building. If it wasn't for General Ironwood he doubted that they would have made it out alive.

*flashback*

That damned officer had a semblance that allowed him to make a perfect body double capable of acting on its own. After the first shot, the officer exploded in a cloud of toxic gas and the real one emerged from the bushes behind them as everyone but the droids were blinded. His first shots took our the droids, then he took his time lining up the next shot on Bucks back. As his finger applied pressure to the trigger an impossible loud bang followed by gunsmoke filled the air. The officer looked down to see a fist-sized hole in his chest, his aura having been completely drained from the use of the clone. Ironwood walked up to the man with his smoking gun in hand and rapidly put three more shots in him. Running back to the team he dragged everyone he could out, after the gas had cleared they went back to see Ozone and Meat had succumbed to the gas.

*end flashback*

Chemo grabbed ahold of Buck's shoulders. As he was shouting at him.

"Snap out of it! Their gone and we need to move on, I know its difficult but it happens all the time. Are you with me or do you need to go rest?" Chemo had a very stern face on as Buck shook his head clear of the thoughts and haunting memories of their faces stuck in that horrible expression.

"I'm good, go on ahead. I'll catch up with you, besides he'll be training with you first anyway." Grabbing his head as the fleeting thoughts still lingered in the corners of his mind Chemo stared at him but moved on. Chemo continued down the hall, silently worrying about his friend and leader. The loss of Meat and Ozone weren't the first teammates they had lost but definitely one of the worst, they could even bury them properly. They had planned a retrieval operation but before they left their bodies liquified, nothing more than a puddle of goop. After that he hadn't heard much of anything from his team aside from Buck.

Not paying any attention to his surrounds his feet carried him right to the training grounds where the rook was waiting. Looking up he saw him field stripping his weapon, he looked up and noticed Chemo and hurriedly put it back together and slung it over his shoulder.

"Sorry Sir, you were taking a while so I kept myself busy." He stammered nervously.

"Calm down, and knock off the Sir crap. We're equals, and if you pass these next tests you're on our squad. So don't disappoint."

Chemo had cleared his head and rushed the guy, as he raised his rifle he hesitated. Chemo immediately grabbed it and yanked out the bolt carrier, rendering the gun useless, he backed off as the new recruit clicked the trigger for nothing to happen. Looking at it he noticed the missing parts and tossed the weapon. Settling into the stance for CQB. He and Chemo kept their distance, only closing the gap one tentative step at a time. In an explosion of movement, he rushed Chemo with a faint left, followed by a right hook, only for his arm to be caught as Chemo slam the flat of his hand against the rooks nose, making a sickening crack and a torrent of blood flowed from his nostrils. He tried to backpedal but Chemo still had a grip on his arm and threw him to the ground. With his wrist still locked in an iron grip Chemo wrapped his legs across his chest and pulled tight.

"You have a choice kid. Surrender and live with the shame. Or fight, and I break your arm." His face completely straight as he was contemplating what he should have for dinner, the good MRE's in storage, or chow hall? Feeling a shift under him shooked Chemo from his thoughts.

"So, fight then? Alright." Chemo tightened the grip on his wrist and raised his hips till he heard a very satisfying pop. letting go he rolled backward into a fighting stance as the recruit picked himself up and cradled his shoulder.

"I thought you said you'd break my arm?"

"What, you calling me a liar?" Chemo zigzagged towards him blinding fast and ended up behind him just as he turned around. Grabbing his good arm Chemo straightened it out and brought his hand down directly on his elbow making a sickening crack followed by the recruit screaming at the top of his lungs. Falling to his knees Chemo finished with a swift kick to the face, more precisely the nose, causing him to feel so much pain he passed out as blood flowed freely from his nose.

"CHEMO WHAT THE FUCK!?" came the highly irritated voice of Peasant.

"Oh relax, its nothing a bit of aura and a few days in the infirmary can't fix." Chemo said with a huff as he stepped back.

Peasant looked the kid over as he shook his head. "If you needed to blow off steam you should have sparred with someone who knows how you fight, not a newbie whos fresh outta boot!" Shaking his head as he knew he'd hear it later from the medic he walked away. "Hey! We're not done here!" But Chemo was already around the corner leaving Peasant with the unconscious form of their newest replacement. "I'm sorry you had to join our squad like this kid. Believe it or not, he is the nicest one here."

Chemo wandered the halls, not really ready for dinner and the "training" going quicker than expected. He'd have to apologize to the kid when he got better. Chemo was having a bad day and took it out on him, looking around he noticed he was at Generals Ironwoods door. The receptionist was gone but he could tell the general was in a meeting. Looking over his shoulder and not seeing anyone he pressed his ear to the door and heard the sounds of a gentle conversation. From who he could tell, that was until he heard something that made his face as red as a tomato. Stepping back the moans got louder but anyone would have to be listening for it. Understanding why the receptionist was gone he decided to follow suit and go have dinner after all.

Shaking his head from the thoughts of who the General could be with he instead focused his mind on going over combat techniques, taking the kid down with an armbar was low. He shuddered to think that actually worked. Having decided a while ago what he wanted to eat he went back to the barracks. Grabbing an MRE he went through the motions and proceeded to eat, his thoughts straying, once again to his annoyance, to the two blondes. He vaguely remembered them, but from where? The one only had one arm and the other was bound to a wheelchair. Where had he seen them before? The scene was different and there was more blood but he recognized the wheelchair blonde, jumping up and spilling the hot water all over his pants Chemo yelped out and brushed it off. His name, What was his name?! Pulling out his scroll he tried to contact Cardin, the huntsman in training grew on him even though he was brash most of the time, his scroll not getting any response he closed it and put it back. Walking at a brisk pace to the medical wing with one question on his mind, who was the blonde in the wheelchair?

* * *

Peasant had called for a medical crew to come pick up their newest recruit to the squad. He was going to give Chemo an earful for what he did to the kid. Following the crew, he had to explain to the best of his knowledge, what had happened.

"Training accident." He said mildly. Scribbling it down the soldier gave a huff.

"You realize you're squad holds the record for most visits to the infirmary for 'training accidents'?" Peasant didn't say a word as they continued down the hall until the culprit ran straight into him that is.

"CHEMO! Will you please watch where it is you're going?!" Peasant picked himself up and tried to hurry back to the quickly advancing group only from Chemo to grab his arm.

"Peasant! Who was the blonde kid we went to that building to save?! What was his name, I know you know because you helped treat him!" Chemo stared him down waiting for an answer from the medic.

"Ummmm, Jean? No, jack? No, that's not it. Jaune! His name was Jaune, why do you ask?" Peasant was suddenly curious about why his friend would want to know about a mission that happened months ago.

"Because Jaune's here with the other blonde we saved. I saw them heading this way earlier today!" This news shocked Peasant as he had an idea of what they were here for. Clenching his fist he prayed for those two.

"Listen, they chose this. We can't worry about them, you need to be ready to train the new kid right this time around when he gets better. Pray that Buck doesn't hear what you did either. He'll have your ass in a sling faster than General Ironwood will for that shit."

"What shit is that Peasant?"

For the second time that day Chemo found himself rooted to the spot, frozen in absolute fear. Not daring to turn around Chemo felt a strong grip on his shoulder, painful almost to the point of blinding but not enough to fracture the bone, he dared turn his head and saw Buck, a fire in his eyes as he waited for an answer.

"Y-you know boss, I-i think I'm going to go help the new kid." Before Peasant could leave Buck gripped his shoulder as well holding them both in place.

"You two are going to explain things right now, the fewer words you use the better." Buck's voice was an icy calm, something he picked up from all the 'training' sessions with the former Captain Schnee.

Peasant, not one to piss off Buck more than usual, jumped on the chance to throw his friend under the proverbial bus.

"Chemo did it." Slipping out of Bucks grip Peasant ran faster than he ever did before. Even a hungry Beowulf would have trouble catching him at the moment.

As Peasant half-ran/half-walked away from what would surely be a brutal murder between Buck and Chemo, he wasn't paying attention to where he was going, continually glancing over his shoulder to make sure Buck wasn't on his tail. Making random turns down hallways he hardly ever went down, Peasant ended up on a side of the building that he had never visited before. Looking around he tried to get his bearings and realized that he was somewhere below General Ironwoods quarters. Walking around he saw pipes and steam everywhere.

"Must be the lower levels where they have the boilers. No wonder I've never been here, no reason to be here." Continuing his trek to try and find a way out he continued his way deeper into the belly of the beast, as it were. He heard soft footsteps but didn't see anyone around, crouching down Peasant followed the sound.

The steps stopped and Peasant followed suit. The deafening silence was suffocating as Peasant refused to even breathe heavy to avoid giving away his position. Suddenly the steps weren't just steps but almost an all-out run! Scowling that he had been found out, Peasant threw caution to the wind and picked up the pace but still listening for the sound. After several minutes, and more than a dozen turns down hallways, Peasant was facing the back of someone in a black cloak. Soldiers all around just walking past as if unable to see the stranger. Soon it was just Peasant and the stranger all alone, they lifted their arm and started walking away. Peasant ran over to them and made to pull off the hood but felt a blind pain in his back and stomach. Looking down he saw a sharp metal spike going through his abdomen and a stain of blood forming.

*stranger POV*

Following the fool who had somehow stumbled upon them was child's play, making them think they had the lead while matching footsteps was another thing. Almost at a full-on sprint, they made several turns to waste time. After all, five minutes can take forever when you're giving chase to someone. Eventually, they found the way outside and he stopped, keeping the illusion that they were standing still about twenty feet ahead of them they kept an eye on the scrolls timer. At thirty seconds the illusion moved and it was time to act. Moving faster than him the stranger took out a sharp and thin spike and quickly thrust it into his back, not stopping there they pushed until it was out the other side. The man looked down and made to scream but pulling the spike out of his stomach and quickly shoving it into the base of his neck prevented any sounds from alerting anyone else. Pulling the spike out and wiping the blood off they replaced it back in its sheath. Putting the object back under the cloak they made the walk towards the waiting bullhead, as the first step was taken on the ramp an explosion blew the building behind them into several pieces, the shockwave from the explosion blew off the cloak that the stranger was wearing to reveal none other than the ice-cream haired mute, Neo. Turning to look at her handy work she saw the top half of the building completely blown off, the exposed sections now had people pouring out of them. Several on fire and panicking, sure to entice some Grimm she made her way up the ramp and motioned to Cinder to take off.

Taking a step out of the broken building she had finally found the landing pad, noticing that several bullheads were closing in, flying much lower than safety regs said to, her eyes landed upon one pink and brown haired bitch. The boarding ramp closed and started to rapidly ascend, cocking her arm back the man beside her said something to which she cocked her head towards him.

"Take aim at the engine, the bird will fall and she'll burn." No hint of remorse in his voice as she nodded and aimed carefully. Once she was certain she wouldn't miss she let loose a single shot that whistled through the air chasing its target. The wind had caught the shot and drifted it slightly left but it still hit true. Knocking one of the engines off, the bullhead began a fast downward spiral to the forest floor, a satisfying explosion and tower of smoke climbing to the skies. Lowering her arm an armored hand rested on her shoulder.

"Come on, those bullheads are probably filled with Grimm or fang, either isn't good news. Let's evacuate the building and check for survivors." His heavy footsteps thudded away, crumbling any loose concrete Yang looked back at Jaune. The once innocent light that filled his eyes was gone, replaced by vengeance, his body language was that of someone out for blood for the wrong of the world. She couldn't blame him.

"There's two people we need to find Ironwood, and Schnee. They'll know the layout the best." Yang ran after her partner.

Multiple bullheads unloaded their cargo, one had landed on the very pad they just left. As the off-ramp lowered a towering man made his way off the airship, revving his chainsaw the whole time.

As Banesaw walked off the bullhead he looked around, the top secret facility of the scientific Atlesian military was blow up. The Grimm that the fang were depositing were going to have a field day. Making his way to the giant hole in the wall in front of him he held his chainsaw at the ready. He looked around the building and saw wreckage and busted pipes, water and steam pouring from them. He cared little for this, what he did care about was the location right above him if the schematics were correct. Planting a breaching charge above his head he took a good amount of steps back and pressed the detonator. The floor came crashing down after the small controlled explosion and the debris conveniently made steps to the upper level.

* * *

His vision blurring, he rose to a sitting position. Looking around someone had blown the entire building apart. On top of that, someone had just blown a hole in his floor, he could hear a chainsaw revving and his heart dropped. He saw the glint of the white mask along with the revving of the chainsaw, this man was second-in-command just below Adam of the white fang. As the man known widely as Banesaw was on top of Ironwood. He could feel Banesaw grinning behind the mask as six other White Fang joined him and surrounded him. A bit of rubble shifted and a coughing Glynda who was bleeding from multiple places and gasping for air. Ironwood stared in horror as Banesaw shifted his attention to Glynda and chuckled.

"Glynda Goodwitch, I've waited a long time to kill you. How many of you want a piece of that fine ass first?" Banesaw asked the small group with him as they all chuckled.

Ironwood was seeing red at the implication of what these animals were suggesting. After Glynda's confession not minutes before Ironwood wanted nothing more than to rip them limb from limb, unfortunately his legs were pinned beneath a fallen piece of the ceiling. Looking over at the woman he loved he saw that she was calm and smiling at him as Banesaw was monologuing his heart out. Waving his arms around in a spectacular fashion but failing to notice that all the fang weapons were coated in a purple aura, Glynda drank the potion that Ironwood had told her not to drink! It wasn't even out of prototype stage, the side effects were unknown and her condition made Ironwood worry even more.

Glynda smiled at James as she concentrated her aura around all the weapons and mouthed three simple words to him. 'I love you.' Ironwood went wide-eyed at the realization of what she was doing. He reached a lone hand towards her as all the fang member weapons suddenly lifted out of their owner's hands and sliced clean through all seven White Fang members. Ironwood watched as their bodies slowly split into two and slide away from themselves with a squelch and plopped down on the floor.

"Good work Glynda, you did it!" Ironwood shouted and looked over at the haggard looking woman.

"Good, wasn't sure if that'd work but I'm glad it did. Take care James, this is the end-game. Give it everything." With that being said, Ironwood started struggling to move the rubble.

"No! No no no no, don't you give me that shit Glynda! You hold on! You can't tell me all that then die on me! You're a fighter, now you fight Glynda!" Desperately scrapping at the rubble a robotic hand grabbed the rubble and lifted it off the general. Hearing the smooth metal against metal sound of a sword entering its sheath, he spotted Yang and Jaune. Crawling over to Glynda he went to check her vitals and felt nothing. Tears beginning to sting his eyes he hugged her body close to him.

"General, are you able to move? We have to evacuate the building and ensure the safety of everyone else. There're Grimm and White Fang all over the building. We need to move!" Jaune was looking everywhere for more people as Ironwood softly cried into Glynda's unmoving body. Yang turned to Jaune.

"We know what we have to do, let's get moving." Yang said with a small frown.

Taking their advance slow and methodical, the two blondes searched high and low, not finding much and when they did find a body it was either shot, crushed, or mauled. So far no survivors, not that they held any hope that there would be. They had been taken completely off guard, even Yang and Jaune weren't supposed to be up but the procedure was done and they were supposed to be healing. The docs have said three to four weeks, the white fang and Grimm said otherwise.

The building wasn't much now since the upper levels had been blown off, over the next few floors the same results were there, they saw dead Grimm and White Fang alike scattered everywhere. Jaune took a closer look at the Fang members and noticed that had all been slashed, some had gunshot wounds as well.

"Yang, there's survivors fighting here, either people without ammo or someone extremely confident in using a sword," Jaune said with several people coming to mind but Yang beat him to the punch.

"We won't find anything here, let's hurry up and move down some floors, we'll probably run into them soon," Yang said with her fists clenched. "Let's take the quickest path, shall we?"

As Jaune twitched for the stairwell he remembered who he was with and stepped back. With a roar, Yang aimed straight at the ground beneath her feet and punched a hole downwards. With the upgrades in her arm, she punched a hole in three more floors before she got tired.

"That'll save us some time huh." Looking around they both darted to the stairwell leading down as the sounds of battle grew louder. Rounding the corner they saw a four man team holding off Grimm and White Fang alike with the unmistakable form of one Specialist Winter Schnee in the middle. Commanding the men at the right place at the right time to avoid getting overrun it was like watching a conductor leading an orchestra with how fluid her movements were.

"Winter, your eight o'clock!" Jaune called out and she immediately turned and nodded at them, returning to her job they proceeded as fast as they could. Once with the group, Winter addressed them.

"Yang, since your long range I need you focusing on bigger targets, anything gets closer than ten meters you let me know."

"Got it." She kept her head on a swivel and the whistle of her rounds could be heard every few seconds.

"Arc, you're close support, anything gets within melee range is your responsibility."

"Will do ma'am." Keeping his eyes peeled he took care of anything to got to close for comfort.

This continued for several minutes for what felt like hours, the numbers never seemed to cease from the Grimm but the White Fang members soon stopped all-together.

"Winter, its just Grimm at this point. The likelihood of survivors is nil at this point. With numbers this vast and the White Fang are either not showing themselves or are gone completely. We need to fall back, grab Ironwood and Glynda, and get out of here." Turning towards Jaune, Winters' eyes grew wide.

"The Generals alive? Where?!" Winter practically shouted as she grabs Jaunes shoulders.

"He's about seven floors up, Glynda took out several Fang members that had him surrounded. We need to hurry if we all want to get out of here!" Jaune started to move but suddenly stopped. "Where's Jessica and Jemima?" Not noting them with the group Yang suddenly went still as the air gained a spark of electricity.

Winters' face fell as they all ran down the hall and up to the next floor before she answered.

"We haven't seen them, The last we saw of them they were training with us," Buck said with a sad tone.

"Don't, no. No no no no, don't you act like they're dead! They're tougher than that! They're Arc's dammit!" Jaune felt the tears starting to sting the corners of his eyes as they ran, and Jaune felt a hand on his back. Looking back he saw Yang was doing her best to be supportive. Tears began to freely fall as he lost track of his movements. The pounding of his heavy metal feet on the floor drawing his mind into a state of emptiness, no thoughts, no emotions, no words, just death to all wore that horrible Grimm mask for the hurt they cause him and his family, both alive and dead.

Arriving at the now top of the building and landing pad, they looked but found no Ironwood and no Glynda either.

"Winter, they were here. Ironwood had his legs crushed and Glynda had no pulse, someone helped them out of here." Yang said still scanning the area. Looking off in the distance she saw trees, a smoldering fire from the bullhead she shot down, and at the edge was someone supporting/carrying a man and another smaller person, maybe a woman, looking everywhere. Trying harder to focus she waved over to Jaune but failed to catch his attention. Turning her head she saw Jaune stare off into space with dead eyes. Walking over she grabbed his shoulders and shook him for all her worth.

"Snap out of it Jaune! I need your help to get over here and look at this." For good measure she cocked her arm back and slapped him hard across the face which seemed to snap him out of it.

"Ow! Yang, that fucking hurt!" Glaring at her she began dragging him to the edge and pointed downwards. Looking down where she was pointing a small glimmer of hope at the white with accents of gold that caught the light around the gloves and boots.

"That's Jessica!" Before anyone could react to this news, or what was going to happen, Jaune jumped.

Winter POV

As she saw Yang drag Jaune to the edge, her heart beat a little faster but she highly doubted that she'd throw him off the edge. Looking back across the broken remains of the building she didn't see any signs of people coming or going, aside from the general chaos of everything that is.

"That's Jessica!"

Then she heard a gasp, quickly turning her head, and the screamed that followed. It wasn't a frightened or desperate scream from someone whose life was in danger. It was a scream of the unexpected, someone doing something very stupid and the only action anyone could do was scream or follow them. Looking at the sight before her, Winter was stunned into silence. Yang was reaching out to Jaune, who was suspended in midair. The very air felt solid as her movements seemed like an underwater sequence. Winter struggled to move fast enough but even with her glyphs, she couldn't have made it.

End POV

Yang didn't have this problem as she had opted to take both courses of action open to her. Scream to let everyone know what had happened, then follow him. She'd be damned if they fought all this way only for that selfish blonde bastard to jump! She made a promise to stay with him until the end, they'd be together forever, did he forget that?! Taking one final step on the edge then jumping straight down towards Jaune he stared down the trio that was slowly entering the forest.

As the wind whistled past her ear, blocking out any other sound, her mind was seething with rage at the actions of the big-headed idiot who held her heart. Tears started to sting her eyes but were whipped away by the wind just as fast as they formed.

'He's crazy! Ever since we got back to Beacon he has been looking for excuses to throw himself at danger.' Her thoughts became shattered as she noticed an abundance of green rapidly closing, looking around the forest was on fire and the ground was rapidly approaching. Shifting her weight and flipping midair, she landed on her feet as the ground cracked. Standing up she looked around for signs of the blonde jerk who worried her so, she slowed her breathing and pay more attention to the ground seeing heavy imprints of boots. 'That has to be him.' Dashing off in the general direction of the billowing flames coming from the forest she heard the twang of metal clashing against itself and female screams. 'I've got to hurry before he does anything reckless.'

* * *

Branches whipped at the exposed skin, though nothing was felt as his aura protected him from such flimsy things anymore. Heavy footsteps crushed anything beneath them, his attention was on getting to his sisters as fast as his mechanical legs could take him. As he got closer, he heard a scream that made his blood freeze. 'That sounds like..' Jaune doubled his efforts and cleared the last two hundred feet to a massive clearing where the bullhead had made a crash landing. Dirt and metal were scattered at the sight of the main impact then another unknown distance of wreckage was the airship had dug a huge trench, leaving behind flames and various liquids. About fifty feet away was Jessica and the downed form of general Ironwood, fighting off hordes of Grimm that were drawn to the attack behind them but took a sudden detour at this new meal that had come to them. As two Beowolfs closed in from behind them Jaune started towards them when a shotgun blast went off and a trail of blonde flew past and smashed into the two unseen Grimm, startling Jessica and the general both.

"Figured you two might need someone to watch your back. JAUNE, get over here!" Yang shouted at him as she took down another three turned to see Jaune and nearly collapsed at seeing him standing.

"H-hey sis, where Jemima?" Swinging his sword and decapitating another Beowulf his sister just stood in silence, not answering him. "Jessica, where's Jemima?" Jaune asked more firmly as Jessica teared up.

"S-she…" Jessica collapsed to the ground as tears streaked her face. Before Jaune could question her more a fireball flew through the air straight and true to its master's wishes and struck the youngest Arc in the back. Yang's eyes grew wide at the sight of Jaune gasping for breath and whirled around to face the assailant only to see the rapidly disappearing form of a badly wounded Cinder Fall. She re-appeared several feet away, doubled over and gasping for air.

"So that little trick takes its toll, you're already hurt you really shouldn't be wearing yourself out, not that I won't enjoy beating the shit outta you either way." Strangely calm Yang slowly walked over to Cinder as the older woman held out a hand, seeming to try and grasp Yang herself.

Jessica hovered over Jaune protectively and she and Ironwood fought back the Grimm that seemed to swell in number with each passing minute. He finally stirred but groaned as his back was, almost literally, on fire.

"What the hell happened?" Jaune resisted the urge to move too much and eventually got into a sitting position.

"You were hit in the back by a fireball, after that the Grimm got a second wind or something because they're non-stop now!" Jessica fire several more round until rapid clicks came from the gun, tilting it she saw the bolt was in the open locked position. "General, I'm out. Any more mags?"

As James shot two more he sighed and tilted his head towards Jessica. "Sorry, fresh out. Jaune, you're good with that sword, time to fight." Ironwood took out his own knife as Jessica unsheathed her up Jaune took sword and sheath all and got ready for close combat.

"Gentleman, if the worst happens, it's been an honor." Jessica gripped her sword with both her shaking hands. A reassuring hand rested on her shoulder as she looked into Jaunes eyes. 'Never in a million years would I have thought I'd be looking to my younger brother for strength.' softly smiling she refocused as the horde of Beowolfs and other assorted Grimm closed in.

* * *

"Fucking bitch!" scaring everyone in the immediate vicinity with not only the harshness of her voice but also the shock of the usually cool and detached attitude being broken by said person. "How are we supposed to help them now? UGH, SERGEANT!" Jumping nearly half a foot in the air, Buck landed almost exactly at her side.

"Yes Ma'am?"

Turning to the man, her face was back to the scary calm that she was famous for. "Tell me, when was the last time you had free fall training?"

Buck paled at the suggestion but knew in the back of his mind that doing anything that suggested retreat would result in a sharp pain of a young woman planting her foot squarely on his back. "It's been a hot minute. Easy as riding a bike though right?" Suddenly unable to move and sweat dripping profusely down his face. Everyone else had finally caught on and everyone tensed up, finding the urge to search for a safer way down. Fairly unsuccessful in their endeavor they all lined up at the edge of the building, but no one moved an inch more.

"Come now boys, we do this the easy way or the easier way. Which is it?" everyone shuffled around but no one jumped. 'How disappointing, for them at least. I've always enjoyed this.' As she slowly walked behind Buck he went stiff as a board. Lifting her foot up she pulled back and viciously kicked him off the roof, the others stared in horror at what they just witnessed until they saw a parachute open followed by several black glyphs slowing his descent further. "See, I won't let you die. Now jump or get kicked, your choice." Following this statement, the rest of the team jumped before she could move. Smiling internally Winter formed a large glyph and proceeded to make her way down, occasionally providing some glyphs for the men.

Once they all reached the ground Buck was waiting for them, still rubbing his back.

"Specialist, areas secured. I found which way they went."

"Good, let's not waste any more time than we already have" Winter drew her sword as the small group ran into the forest towards the sound of shotgun explosions.

* * *

*Unknown POV*

She fell backward with the force of the last punch. Rolling in the dirt and slamming her back into a tree, knocking the breath from her lungs. Shakily climbing to her feet she crouches down and ran to try and get around the enraged melee fighter, only to catch Yang's arm chopping her windpipe. Gasping for air she couldn't realize why Yang was doing this. What'd she do? Getting up once again she yelled at her again only for her words to fall on deaf ears as Yang mercilessly strode towards her. She was never one for close quarters battles, and never having won. 'Well, I'm fucked either way. I love you sis.'

*End POV*

Yang took another swing at the bitch that solidly connected as she sped past her. 'She's got to be feeling this but it looks as if she's fine. Just makes me pissed!' Cocking her arm back she discharged a shot from Ember Celica, knocking her back again. Yang stood over the downed woman with a scowling painting her face.

*Ruby POV*

Her arm was broken in four places. She'd lost count of her ribs, all that was there was a throbbing pain, leg was fractured, deep chest wounds, broken nose, left eye swollen shut, pretty sure a concussion wasn't out of the question, crescent rose was shattered, and she couldn't even stand up properly anymore, and forget breathing that didn't devolve into cough fits of blood. All in all, not the worst assignment she'd ever had, Yang was truly a different person when she was ready to kill her opponent. 'I won't fight you Yang, I'm sorry for whatever I did. I tried to love you as a sister should. I guess I didn't do a good enough job. I'm so sorry Yang, I love you'

*Back to Yang*

"Get up, I know that's not all you have. Get up! For everything you've done, I'll kill you!" Yang shot backwards and propelled herself forward and connected with a shotgun infused punch that knocked her back through several trees. Reloading Ember Celica Yang looked up in time to see a blur charging at her. Cocking back and taking careful aim she let loose with a massive punch that solidly connected with the blur and sent it flying, along with a ton of rose petals. Her eyes went wide in shock, 'Only one thing I know makes rose petals like that.' Yang ran forward, ignoring the screams in the background, following the wreckage of trees and petals. After stumbling around a dozen broken trees she came across the unconscious body of Ruby Rose, beaten, broken, bleeding, barely breathing. Yang broke, tears falling from her eyes as she grabbed her sister and wailed at the sky from the top of her lungs.

Walking from the edge of the forest, Winter dropped the body of a green haired thief off the end of her rapier. Pulling out a cloth and whipping the blood off of the blade, she found Yang in a clearing. Winter had followed the noise and appeared behind Yang, quickly followed by Jaune. Neither said anything, nothing could be said. Winter turned and lay her hand on Jaunes shoulder and nodded. Jaune returned the nod and sheathed his sword and slowly walked towards Yang.

Not bothering to keep her crying down she hugged Ruby's body tighter as she felt arms settle around her. She kept her sister there, no one else could do anything else to hurt her. She's safe, safe in her big sister's arms. 'I'll protect you, Rubes, like always, I'll keep the bad guys out. No matter what, you'll be fine I promise.' Crying even harder the arms around her grew tighter as well.

"Shhh Yang, I'm here." The two sat there; one holding her dear sister's crumpled form, the other crying over a lost friend.

* * *

Winter walked solemnly over to the group. Buck and what remained of his team were holding the perimeter from the few remaining Grimm. Jessica Arc was tending to general Ironwood as best she could while Jemima's fate was still unknown. Putting her sword away Winter looked around, burning wreckage of the bullhead slowly smoldering out; the body of one Cinder Fall lay in a heap, multiple metal rods jammed into her chest. Somehow it didn't seem painful enough. Beside her was the body of the partner of Roman Torchwick Neoplaitain, or Neo for short. The massive amounts of paperwork here, not to mention the calls to families of the fallen or those M.I.A. First and foremost was a hospital for everyone here, a psychiatric ward for a few. Pulling out her scroll she tapped the screen a few times, only to find it destroyed. Heaving a sigh she threw it away and placed her hands behind her back and began the trek back towards the tower looking towards the tops of the trees she saw a pair of black birds, one looking in the direction of Yang and Jaune, the other hung its head and looked... sad? Stranger things have been seen in Remnant, she shook her head and proceeded on.


End file.
